The (pro)renin receptor (PRR), which binds both renin and prorenin, is a newly discovered component of the renin-angiotensin system that is highly expressed in the central nervous system. The significance of brain PRRs in mediating local angiotensin II formation and regulating blood pressure remains unclear. The current study was performed to test the hypothesis that PRR-mediated, nonproteolyti...

Prorenin is secreted by mammalian cells transfected with a human preprorenin expression construct. The purpose of this investigation was to compare the physicochemical properties of expressed prorenin in culture medium with the known characteristics of human inactive renin, which accounts for nearly half the renin in plasma and kidney. We found that expressed human prorenin strongly resembles h...

Renin, an aspartyl protease that catalyzes the rate-limiting step of the renin-angiotensin system, is first synthesized as an inactive precursor, prorenin. Prorenin is activated by the proteolytic removal of an amino terminal prosegment in the dense granules of the juxtaglomerular (JG) cells of the kidney by one or more proteases whose identity is uncertain but commonly referred to as the prore...

PURPOSE Extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (EMZL) is the most common subtype of conjunctival lymphoma, though its molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis are largely unknown. We attempted to explore the association of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and (pro)renin receptor ([P]RR) in the pathogenesis of conjunctival lymphoma. METHODS Surgically removed conjunctiva EMZL samples were used...

The value of plasma renin and its inactive precursor, prorenin, were examined as a marker for vasculitis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Plasma renin and prorenin rise when the renin-angiotensin system is activated; an isolated increase of prorenin may be a marker for microvascular complications in diabetes mellitus. Renin concentrations in plasma obtained from 34 patients with RA (seven with vas...

BACKGROUND The most striking abnormality in the renin angiotensin system in diabetic nephropathy (DN) is increased plasma prorenin. Renin is thought to be low or normal in DN. In spite of altered (pro)renin regulation the renin gene has not been studied for contribution to the development of DN. METHODS We studied plasma renin, prorenin, and four polymorphic markers of the renin gene in 199 p...

BACKGROUND Rats with several 100-fold elevation of plasma prorenin levels due to liver-specific expression of a rat prorenin transgene have cardiac and aortic hypertrophy, renal lesions, and myocardial fibrosis. The effect of increased dietary NaCl on the phenotype of prorenin transgenic rats has not been examined. METHODS AND RESULTS We compared the effects of 0.3 and 2% dietary NaCl in wild...

The intrauterine renin angiotensin system (RAS) is implicated in placentation and labour onset. Here we investigate whether promoter methylation of RAS genes changes with gestation or labour and if it affects gene expression. Early gestation amnion and placenta were studied, as were term amnion, decidua, and placenta collected before labour (at elective caesarean section) or after spontaneous l...