“…Calpronin and caldesom are regulatory proteins, which function in the induction of actin polymerization and depolymeriztion, and maintain cytoskeletal stability during hypertrophy (el-Mezgueldi, 1996;Huber, 1997), while caldesom prevents actin reorganization (Castellino et al, 1995). In this study, calponin and caldesom expression were enhanced in both infected microglia and astrocytes and have been shown to block actin reorganization, induce actin aggregation, and destabilize cytoskeletal integrity (Winder et al, 1993;Lu et al, 1995;Koganehira et al, 2003;Takiguchi and Matsumura, 2005;Perez-Montiel et al, 2006). Additionally, interaction of HIV-infected astrocytes markedly enhanced expression of structural proteins, vimentin and GFAP, by HIV-1 infected microglia, which have been shown to inhibit neurotrophin secretion (Schwartz and Mishler, 1990) and down-regulate production of TNF-〈 (Hetier et al, 1991).…”