Calpains and Coronary Vascular Disease

Despite many advances in percutaneous and surgical interventions in the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD), up to one-third of patients are still either not candidates or receive suboptimal revascularization. Calpains are a class of calcium-activated non-lysosomal cysteine proteases that serve as a proteolytic unit for cellular homeostasis. Uncontrolled activation of calpain has been found to be involved in the pathogenesis of myocardial reperfusion injury, cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial stunning and cardiac ischemia. Inhibition of calpains has been shown to significantly attenuate myocardial stunning and reduced infarct size after ischemia-reperfusion. Calpain inhibition therefore serves as a potential medical therapy for patients suffering from a number of diseases, including CAD. (Circ J 2016; 80: 4–10)