These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: Three-dimensional structure and actions of immunosuppressants and their immunophilins.
    Author: Braun W, Kallen J, Mikol V, Walkinshaw MD, Wüthrich K.
    Journal: FASEB J; 1995 Jan; 9(1):63-72. PubMed ID: 7529736.
    Abstract:
    The use of the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporin A (CsA) as a biochemical tool to study the signal transduction pathway in T cells has led to the discovery of a first family of immunosuppressant-binding proteins or "immunophilins," the cyclophilins (Cyp). Another, chemically unrelated immunosuppressant molecule, FK506, was then found to be related to a second class of immunophilins, the FK506-binding proteins (FKBPs). This paper reviews the existing structural information on these immunophilins in the context of present knowledge of the biochemical mechanisms for immunosuppression. The formation of Cyp-CsA and FKBP-FK506 complexes, and the subsequent specific interaction of these complexes with the serine/threonine phosphatase calcineurin (CN), are key steps in the cascade of events that result in the desired immunosuppression. Knowledge of the conformation of the Cyp-CsA-CN and FKBP-FK506-CN ternary complexes is of significant biomedical interest, because mimics of the composite contact surfaces of, for example, Cyp-CsA or FKBP-FK506, could provide immunosuppressant drugs with improved pharmacological profiles.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]