Breast cancer is a serious health problem worldwide in women. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs of 18–25 nucleotides in length that post-transcriptionally modulate gene expression. MiR-490 has been reported as a tumor suppressor and oncomiR microRNA in breast cancer with two separate targets, NFAT and Rho. NFAT is one of the targets for miR-490 but the relationship between hsa</e...

Processing of external information by mammalian cells often involves seemingly redundant isoforms of signaling molecules and transcription factors. Understanding the functional relevance of coexpressed isoforms that respond to the same signal and control a shared set of genes is still limited. Here we show, using imaging of individual living mammalian cells, that the closely related transcripti...

BACKGROUND Although disruption of guanylyl cyclase (GC) A, a natriuretic peptide receptor, induces cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, the molecular mechanism underlying these effects are not well understood. In this study, we examined the role of calcineurin, a calcium-dependent phosphatase, in cardiac remodeling in GCA-knockout (GCA-KO) mice. METHODS AND RESULTS At 14 weeks of age, calcineuri...

Secreted frizzled-related protein 2 (SFRP2) is overexpressed in human angiosarcoma and breast cancer and stimulates angiogenesis via activation of the calcineurin/NFATc3 pathway. There are conflicting reports in the literature as to whether SFRP2 is an antagonist or agonist of β-catenin. The aims of these studies were to assess the effects of SFRP2 antagonism on tumor growth and Wnt-signaling a...

Excitation-transcription coupling, linking stimulation at the cell surface to changes in nuclear gene expression, is conserved throughout eukaryotes. How closely related coexpressed transcription factors are differentially activated remains unclear. Here, we show that two Ca2+-dependent transcription factor isoforms, NFAT1 and NFAT4, require distinct sub-cellular InsP3 and Ca2+ signals for phys...

The transcription factor NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T-cells) is a cytosolic phosphoprotein that accumulates in the nucleus following dephosphorylation by the calcium (Ca )/calmodulin-dependent phosphatase, calcineurin. A defining feature of stimuli that induce NFAT nuclear accumulation/activation is a sustained increase in global intracellular Ca . Contrary to expectations, we have found...