Heat shock protein (HSP)-72 is released by cells during stress and injury. HSP-72 also stimulates the release of cytokines in macrophages by binding to toll like receptors (TLR) 2 and 4. Circulating levels of HSP-72 increase during hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury. The role of extracellular HSP-72 (eHSP-72) in the injury response to ischemia/reperfusion is unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine if eHSP-72 has any direct effects on hepatocytes. Primary mouse hepatocytes were treated with purified human recombinant HSP-72. Conditioned media were evaluated by ELISA for the cytokines, TNF, IL-6 and MIP-2. Stimulation of hepatocytes with eHSP-72 did not induce production of TNF or IL-6, but resulted in dose-dependent increases in MIP-2 production. To evaluate the pathway responsible for this response, expression of TLR2 and TLR4 were confirmed on hepatocytes by immunohistochemistry. Hepatocyte production of MIP-2 was significantly decreased in hepatocytes obtained from TLR2 or TLR4 knockout mice. MIP-2 production was found to be partially dependent upon NF-B as inhibition of NF-B with BAY 11-7085 significantly decreased eHSP-72-induced MIP-2 production. Inhibitors of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase or jun N-terminal kinase had no effect on production of MIP-2 induced by eHSP-72. The data suggest that eHSP-72 binds to TLR2 and TLR4 on hepatocytes and signals through NF-B to increase MIP-2 production. The fact that eHSP-72 did not increase TNF or IL-6 production may be indicative of a highly regulated signaling pathway downstream from TLR.