In Candida albicans, calcineurin mediates tolerance to azole antifungal drugs, survival in serum, and virulence. In this study, we examined 24 Candida isolates from liver transplant recipients receiving a calcineurin inhibitor as a component of their immunosuppressive therapy. We were unable to detect a difference in susceptibility to calcineurin inhibitors in combination with fluconazole, seru...

Transplant recipients on calcineurin inhibitors are at high risk of invasive fungal infection. Understanding how calcineurin inhibitors impair fungal immunity is a key priority for defining risk of infection. Here, we show that the calcineurin inhibitor tacrolimus impairs clearance of the major mould pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus from the airway, by inhibiting macrophage inflammatory responses...

BACKGROUND The transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) mediates cellular responses to pain, heat, or noxious stimuli by calcium influx; however, the cellular localization and function of TRPV1 in the cardiomyocyte is largely unknown. We studied whether myocardial injury is regulated by TRPV1 and whether we could mitigate reperfusion injury by limiting the calcineurin interaction with T...

BACKGROUND It remains unclear how hemodynamic overload induces cardiac hypertrophy. Recently, activation of calcium-dependent phosphatase, calcineurin, has been elucidated to induce cardiac hypertrophy. In the present study, we examined the role of calcineurin in load-induced cardiac hypertrophy by using Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) rats, which develop both pressure and volume overload when fed a h...

Transient receptor potential channel 1/4 (TRPC1/4) are considered to be related to subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH)-induced cerebral vasospasm. In this study, a SAH rat model was employed to study the roles of TRPC1/4 in the early brain injury (EBI) after SAH. Primary cultured hippocampal neurons were exposed to oxyhemoglobin to mimic SAH in vitro. The protein levels of TRPC1/4 increased and peake...

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a necrotrophic, omnivorous plant pathogen with worldwide distribution. Sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum are pigmented, multihyphal structures that play a central role in the life and infection cycles of this pathogen. Calcineurin, a Ser/Thr phosphatase linked to several signal-transduction pathways, plays a key role in the regulation of cation homeostasis, morphogenesis,...

To test for a role of the calcineurin-NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells) pathway in the regulation of fiber type-specific gene expression, slow and fast muscle-specific promoters were examined in C2C12 myotubes and in slow and fast muscle in the presence of calcineurin or NFAT2 expression plasmids. Overexpression of active calcineurin in myotubes induced both fast and slow muscle-specif...

OBJECTIVE To review the role of calcineurin inhibitors in the treatment of allergic dermatitis, focusing on mechanisms of action, efficacy and topical and systemic adverse effects. SOURCES Articles written in English and published in MEDLINE using the following keywords: pimecrolimus, tacrolimus, calcineurin inhibitors. Original articles that presented controlled and open studies for assessin...

Calcineurin (PP2B) is a Ca(2+)-dependent protein phosphatase enriched in the brain that takes part in intracellular signaling pathways regulating synaptic plasticity and neuronal functions. Calcineurin-dependent pathways are important for complex brain functions such as learning and memory. More recently, they have been suggested to play a role in the processing of emotional information. The ai...

Calcium influx triggers and accelerates endocytosis in nerve terminals and nonneuronal secretory cells. Whether calcium/calmodulin-activated calcineurin, which dephosphorylates endocytic proteins, mediates this process is highly controversial for different cell types, developmental stages, and endocytic forms. Using three preparations that previously produced discrepant results (i.e., large cal...