Browsing by Subject "Calcineurin"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Increased COUP-TFII expression in adult hearts induces mitochondrial dysfunction resulting in heart failure
    (Springer Nature, 2015-09-10) Wu, San-Pin; Kao, Chung-Yang; Wang, Leiming; Creighton, Chad J.; Yang, Jin; Donti, Taraka R.; Harmancey, Romain; Vasquez, Hernan G.; Graham, Brett H.; Bellen, Hugo J.; Taegtmeyer, Heinrich; Chang, Ching-Pin; Tsai, Ming-Jer; Tsai, Sophia Y.; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    Mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic remodelling are pivotal in the development of cardiomyopathy. Here, we show that myocardial COUP-TFII overexpression causes heart failure in mice, suggesting a causal effect of elevated COUP-TFII levels on development of dilated cardiomyopathy. COUP-TFII represses genes critical for mitochondrial electron transport chain enzyme activity, oxidative stress detoxification and mitochondrial dynamics, resulting in increased levels of reactive oxygen species and lower rates of oxygen consumption in mitochondria. COUP-TFII also suppresses the metabolic regulator PGC-1 network and decreases the expression of key glucose and lipid utilization genes, leading to a reduction in both glucose and oleate oxidation in the hearts. These data suggest that COUP-TFII affects mitochondrial function, impairs metabolic remodelling and has a key role in dilated cardiomyopathy. Last, COUP-TFII haploinsufficiency attenuates the progression of cardiac dilation and improves survival in a calcineurin transgenic mouse model, indicating that COUP-TFII may serve as a therapeutic target for the treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The phosphatase calcineurin regulates pathological TDP-43 phosphorylation
    (Springer, 2016-10) Liachko, Nicole F.; Saxton, Aleen D.; McMillan, Pamela J.; Strovas, Timothy J.; Currey, Heather N.; Taylor, Laura M.; Wheeler, Jeanna M.; Oblak, Adrian L.; Ghetti, Bernardino; Montine, Thomas J.; Keene, C. Dirk; Raskind, Murray A.; Bird, Thomas D.; Kraemer, Brian C.; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Detergent insoluble inclusions of TDP-43 protein are hallmarks of the neuropathology in over 90% of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cases and approximately half of frontotemporal dementia (FTLD-TDP) cases. In TDP-43 proteinopathy disorders, lesions containing aggregated TDP-43 protein are extensively post-translationally modified, with phosphorylated TDP-43 (pTDP) being the most consistent and robust marker of pathological TDP-43 deposition. Abnormally phosphorylated TDP-43 has been hypothesized to mediate TDP-43 toxicity in many neurodegenerative disease models. To date several different kinases have been implicated in the genesis of pTDP, but no phosphatases have been shown to reverse pathological TDP-43 phosphorylation. We have identified the phosphatase calcineurin as an enzyme binding to and catalyzing the removal of pathological C-terminal phosphorylation of TDP-43 in vitro. In C. elegans models of TDP-43 proteinopathy, genetic elimination of calcineurin results in accumulation of excess pTDP, exacerbated motor dysfunction, and accelerated neurodegenerative changes. In cultured human cells, treatment with FK506 (tacrolimus), a calcineurin inhibitor, results in accumulation of pTDP species. Lastly, calcineurin co-localizes with pTDP in degenerating areas of the central nervous system in subjects with FTLD-TDP and ALS. Taken together these findings suggest calcineurin acts on pTDP as a phosphatase in neurons. Furthermore, patient treatment with calcineurin inhibitors may have unappreciated adverse neuropathological consequences.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Structural basis for activation of calcineurin by calmodulin
    (Elsevier, 2012) Rumi-Masante, Julie; Rusinga, Farai I.; Lester, Terrence E.; Dunlap, Tori B.; Williams, Todd D.; Dunker, A. Keith; Weis, David D.; Creamer, Trevor P.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    The highly conserved phosphatase calcineurin (CaN) plays vital roles in numerous processes including T-cell activation, development and function of the central nervous system, and cardiac growth. It is activated by the calcium sensor calmodulin (CaM). CaM binds to a regulatory domain (RD) within CaN, causing a conformational change that displaces an autoinhibitory domain (AID) from the active site, resulting in activation of the phosphatase. This is the same general mechanism by which CaM activates CaM-dependent protein kinases. Previously published data have hinted that the RD of CaN is intrinsically disordered. In this work, we demonstrate that the RD is unstructured and that it folds upon binding CaM, ousting the AID from the catalytic site. The RD is 95 residues long, with the AID attached to its C-terminal end and the 24-residue CaM binding region toward the N-terminal end. This is unlike the CaM-dependent protein kinases that have CaM binding sites and AIDs immediately adjacent in sequence. Our data demonstrate that not only does the CaM binding region folds but also an ∼25- to 30-residue region between it and the AID folds, resulting in over half of the RD adopting α-helical structure. This appears to be the first observation of CaM inducing folding of this scale outside of its binding site on a target protein.