Separating the good and evil of cardiac growth by CIB1 and calcineurin

Abstract

Ca(2+)-calcineurin-NFAT signaling plays a major role in promoting pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Heineke et al. (2010) show that CIB1 strongly enhances calcineurin activation and cardiac hypertrophy upon pathological stress, likely by functioning as a scaffold protein that exposes calcineurin to the L-Type Ca(2+) channel and the sarcolemma.