Calcineurin

Calcineurin

What do you think about the state of research in France? I am rather concerned. France has the financial and human resources to carry on highly competitive research, yet it needs a major overhaul of its current system. I would like to convince the Government to invest much more and for a longer time in basic science — applied research won’t be effective if not supported by strong academic resea...

Calcineurin: form and function.

Calcineurin is a eukaryotic Ca(2+)- and calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase. It is a heterodimeric protein consisting of a catalytic subunit calcineurin A, which contains an active site dinuclear metal center, and a tightly associated, myristoylated, Ca(2+)-binding subunit, calcineurin B. The primary sequence of both subunits and heterodimeric quaternary structure is highl...

Calcineurin inhibitor nephrotoxicity.

The use of the calcineurin inhibitors cyclosporine and tacrolimus led to major advances in the field of transplantation, with excellent short-term outcome. However, the chronic nephrotoxicity of these drugs is the Achilles' heel of current immunosuppressive regimens. In this review, the authors summarize the clinical features and histologic appearance of both acute and chronic calcineurin inhib...

SnapShot: Ca2+-Calcineurin-NFATSignaling

Calcineurin in a Crowded World

Calcineurin is a Ser/Thr phosphatase that is important for key biological processes, including immune system activation. We previously identified a region in the intrinsically disordered regulatory domain of calcineurin that forms a critical amphipathic α-helix (the "distal helix") that is required for complete activation of calcineurin. This distal helix was shown to have a Tm close to that of...