Calpains and liver injury / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Calpains are calcium-modulated proteases which respond to Ca2+ signals by removing limited portions of protein substrates,thereby irreversibly modifying their functions.Members of calpains are present in a variety of organisms in human.Calpains mediates crucial cellular functions,including rearrangement of cytoskeletal proteins and protein cleavage to activate various receptors and pro-enzymes.The abnormal activation of calpains is one of the important mechanisms in several pathogenesis,including neurodegenerative diseases,traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries,cataracts and ischemia-associated injuries.The recent findings on the role of calpains and its inhibitors in the liver injury will be reviewed in this paper.