Search

Abstract Effects of probiotic bacteria on viral infections have been described previously. Here, two groups of sows and their piglets were fed with or without feed supplementation of the probiotic bacterium Enterococcus faecium NCIMB 10415. Shedding of enteric viruses naturally occurring in these pigs was analyzed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. No differences between the groups were recorded for hepatitis E virus, encephalomyocarditis virus and norovirus. In contrast, astrovirus was exclusively detected in the non-supplemented control group. Rotavirus was shedded later and with lower amounts in the probiotic piglet group (p p p p p p

Abstract The drugs cyclosporine A (CsA) and tacrolimus (FK506) revolutionized organ transplantation. Both compounds are still widely used in the clinic as well as for basic research, even though they have dramatic side effects and modulate other pathways than calcineurin-NFATc, too. To answer the major open question - whether the adverse side effects are secondary to the actions of the drugs on the calcineurin-NFATc pathway - alternative inhibitors were developed. Ideal inhibitors should discriminate between the inhibition of (i) calcineurin and peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases (PPIases; the matchmaker proteins of CsA and FK506), (ii) calcineurin and the other Ser/Thr protein phosphatases, and (iii) NFATc and other transcription factors. In this review we summarize the current knowledge about novel inhibitors, synthesized or identified in the last decades, and focus on their mode of action, specificity, and biological effects.