Emerging roles of apelin in biology and medicine.
The family of apelin peptides is derived from a single gene and activates the 7-transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptor ( GPCR) APJ. Apelins have been shown to be involved in the regulation of cardiovascular function and fluid homeostasis and interestingly represent substrates for ACE2, a carboxypeptidase recently described as a novel key enzyme in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAS). APJ has further been reported to be a coreceptor for the infection of CD4-positive cells with HIV in the central nervous system (CNS). Apelin-36 and shorter C-terminal sequences have different potencies and efficacies in regulating these functions. Shorter sequences, especially (Pyr(1))apelin-13, are potent regulators of cardiovascular function, while longer peptides such as apelin-36 are more effective in inhibiting human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection by blocking the HIV coreceptor APJ. The pyroglutamate modification characteristic of the short apelin peptide (Pyr(1))apelin-13 indicates paramount biological importance of this peptide. The aim of this review is to compile conclusive evidence for the involvement of apelin/APJ in the regulation of cardiovascular function and HIV pathology, emphasizing the properties of this receptor system that may make it a successful future drug target.[1]References
- Emerging roles of apelin in biology and medicine. Kleinz, M.J., Davenport, A.P. Pharmacol. Ther. (2005) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
