background: cyclosporine a (csa) is an immunosuppressant with therapeutic indications in various immunological diseases; however, its use is associated with chronic nephropathy. oxidative stress has a crucial role in csa-induced nephrotoxicity. the present study evaluates the protective effect of edaravone on csa-induced chronic nephropathy and investigates its antioxidant and nitric oxide modu...

Many bacterial pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, use a variety of pore-forming toxins as important virulence factors. Staphylococcal alpha-toxin, a prototype beta-barrel pore-forming toxin, triggers the release of proinflammatory mediators and induces primarily necrotic death in susceptible cells. However, whether host factors released in response to staphylococcal infections may incr...

Treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been met with less than satisfactory results due primarily to its resistance to and significant side effects from alpha interferon (IFN-alpha). New classes of safe and broadly acting treatments are urgently needed. Cyclosporine (CsA), an immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory drug for organ transplant patients, has recently been shown to be hi...

The use of cyclosporin A (CsA) in solid organ transplantation has been shown to be associated with the development of hypertension and nephrotoxicity. Several mechanisms, including endothelin (ET)-1-mediated systemic vasoconstriction, are considered to be responsible for CsA-induced hypertension. This study shows that: (i) incubation of CsA (1 microg) with bovine aortic endothelial cells leads ...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of cyclosporine (CsA) treatment on urinary concentration ability. Rats were treated daily for 4 wk with vehicle (VH; olive oil, 1 ml/kg sc) or CsA (15 mg/kg sc). The influence of CsA on the kidney's ability to concentrate urine was evaluated using functional parameters and expression of aquaporins (AQP1-4) and of urea transporters (UT-...

BACKGROUND Several experimental and clinical studies suggest that cyclosporin A (CSA) treatment reduces transplant atherosclerosis. Because oxidized LDL (oxLDL) is believed to play a key role in the development of atherogenesis, causing injury to the endothelium, and has been shown to induce apoptosis of endothelial cells, we investigated whether CSA inhibits oxLDL-induced apoptosis. METHODS ...

Cyclosporin A (CsA) is an immunosuppresor drug that has been used in the treatment of several types of inflammatory diseases. In some of them the inhibition of T-lymphocyte activation does not suitably account for the observed beneficial effect, suggesting that CsA could act on other types of cells. The present study was undertaken to determine the effect of CsA on inflammatory cytokine secreti...

BACKGROUND With the introduction of cyclosporine A (CsA), long-term allograft function has significantly improved. Problems related to limited therapeutic margins and CsA toxicity remain unsolved. Until now there have been no reliable, practical markers to measure the biologic activity of CsA in vivo. METHODS Expression of NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells)-regulated genes (interleuki...

Clostridium perfringens was found to produce alpha toxin in a synthetic medium containing zinc; in medium containing no zinc, a little toxin was detected in the early logarithmic phase of growth and it disappeared rapidly. No intracellular accumulation of alpha toxin protein occurred whether or not zinc was present in the medium. In zinc-deficient medium, the organisms produced and released int...