title: CRAC inhibitors: identification and potential.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ca(2+) release-activated Ca(2+) (CRAC) channels, a subfamily of store-operated channels, play an essential role in various diseases such as immune disorders and allergic responses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The successful treatment of these diseases requires the identification of specific inhibitors. So far, a variety of chemical compounds blocking CRAC have been identified; however, they have all turned out to be less specific. Recently two proteins, STIM1 and ORAI1, have been identified as the essential components that fully reconstitute CRAC currents with a similar biophysical fingerprint.
  
  
  METHODS
  These two proteins and their activation process represent direct targets for the application of specific CRAC inhibitors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For drug development, fluorescence microscopy adaptable for high-throughput screening will provide a powerful assay to mechanistically identify potential CRAC inhibitors that act on various stages within the STIM1/ORAI1 activation pathway visualized by fluorescent-tagged proteins.
authors.affiliation: University of Linz, Institute of Biophysics, A-4040 Linz, Austria +43 732 2468 9272 ; +43 732 2468 9280 ; isabella.derler@jku.at ; christoph.romanin@jku.at.
authors.forename: Isabella
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Derler
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fritsch
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schindl
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romanin