BACKGROUND Plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) is a key regulator of the plasminogen activation system. Although several lines of evidence support a significant role of PAI-1 in the brain, the regulation of its expression in neurons is poorly understood. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that NGF induces the upregulation of PAI-1 via the calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated...

Calcineurin, a Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase, plays a critical role in controlling skeletal muscle fiber type. However, little information is available concerning the expression of calcineurin in goat. Therefore, protein phosphatase 3 catalytic subunit alpha isoform (PPP3CA) gene, also called calcineurin Aα, was cloned and its expression characterized in Tianfu goat muscle. Re...

Calcineurin (Cn) is a Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine phosphatase that regulates differentiation-specific gene expression in diverse tissues, including the control of fiber-type switching in skeletal muscle. Recent studies have implicated Cn signaling in diminishing skeletal muscle pathogenesis associated with muscle injury or disease-related muscle degeneration. For example, use o...

Ca 2÷ ATPases deplete the cytosol of Ca 2÷ ions and are crucial to cellular Ca 2÷ homeostasis. The PMC1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a vacuole membrane protein that is 40% identical to the plasma membrane Ca :÷ ATPases (PMCAs) of mammalian cells. Mutants lacking PMC1 grow well in standard media, but sequester Ca 2÷ into the vacuole at 20% of the wild-type levels, pmcl null mutants f...

Magnaporthe oryzae, the causal agent of rice blast, forms a specialized infection structure, called an appressorium, which is crucial for penetration and infection of the host plant. Pharmacological data suggest that calcium/calmodulin-dependent signaling is involved in appressorium formation in this fungus. To understand the role of the calcium/ calmodulin-activated protein phosphatase on appr...

One of the most common side effects of treatment with cyclosporin A (CsA) is hypertrichosis. This study shows that calcineurin activity is associated with hair keratinocyte differentiation in vivo, affecting nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT1) activity in these cells. Treatment of nude or C57BL/6 depilated normal mice with CsA inhibited the expression of keratinocyte terminal differenti...

The chemokine superfamily consists of small (8-10 kDa) molecules that function to attract, selectively, different subsets of leukocytes. Binding of chemokines to their appropriate G-protein-coupled receptors is necessary for primary immune responses and for homing of leukocytes to lymphoid tissues. Here, we have characterized the signaling pathways in primary T lymphocytes that regulate chemoki...

The sophisticated adaptive immune system of vertebrates overlies an ancient set of innate immune-response pathways, which have been genetically dissected in Drosophila. Although conserved regulatory pathways have been defined, calcineurin, a Ca(2+)-dependent phosphatase, has not been previously implicated in Drosophila immunity. Calcineurin activates mammalian immune responses by activating the...

BACKGROUND Cellular hypertrophy requires coordinated regulation of progrowth and antigrowth mechanisms. In cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes, Foxo transcription factors trigger an atrophy-related gene program that counters hypertrophic growth. However, downstream molecular events are not yet well defined. METHODS AND RESULTS Here, we report that expression of either Foxo1 or Foxo3 in cardiomyo...

The molecular mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effect of erythromycin (EM) was investigated at the level of transcriptional regulation of cytokine gene expression in T cells. EM (>10 M) significantly inhibited interleukin-8 (IL-8) expression but not IL-2 expression from T cells induced with 20 ng of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) per ml plus 2 mM calcium ionophore (P-I). In electrophor...