introduction: calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase ii (camkii) is highly expressed in the hippocampus, which has a pivotal role in reward-related memories and morphine dependence. methods: in the present study, morphine tolerance was induced in male wistar rats by 7 days repeated morphine injections once daily, and then gene expression profile of α-isoform of camkii (camkiiα) in the hipp...

The Plk (polo-like kinase) family is involved in cell-cycle machinery. Despite the possible overlapping involvement of Plk1 and Plk3 in cell-cycle distribution, the precise role of each Plk might be different. To investigate mechanisms that may differentiate their physiological roles, we compared the substrate specificities of Plk1 and Plk3 using synthetic peptides. Among these substrate peptid...

In acute and chronic neurodegeneration, Ca(2+) mishandling and disruption of the cytoskeleton compromise neuronal integrity, yet abnormalities in the signaling roles of cytoskeletal proteins remain largely unexplored. We now report that the microtubule-associated protein p600 (also known as UBR4) promotes neuronal survival. Following depletion of p600, glutamate-induced Ca(2+) influx through NM...

We recently demonstrated that human C-reactive protein (CRP), expressed hepatically in transgenic mice (CRPtg), improved the outcome of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of multiple sclerosis (MS). The liver is the primary site of CRP synthesis in humans and in CRPtg mice but is also expressed by both at low levels in the CNS. To determine if CNS expression of huma...

Phosphoinositides are a class of phospholipids generated by the action of phosphoinositide kinases with key regulatory functions in eukaryotic cells. Here, we present the atomic structure of phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase type IIα (PI4K IIα), in complex with ATP solved by X-ray crystallography at 2.8 Å resolution. The structure revealed a non-typical kinase fold that could be divided into N- and...

This study aimed to examine the associations between mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), Akt, and topoisomerase II expression and other well established clinical and pathological prognostic factors in patients with breast cancer. A total of 42 women with breast cancer who underwent anthracycline based chemotherapy were included in this retrospective study. Immunohistochemical methods were ...