Recent structure-activity studies of the peptide hormone urotensin-II, a potent vasoconstrictor

Curr Med Chem. 2004 Apr;11(8):969-79. doi: 10.2174/0929867043455495.

Abstract

Human Urotensin-II is a potent vasoconstrictor and binds with high affinity to GPR14 receptor, recently cloned and renamed UT receptor. U-II vasoconstrictive potency is reported to be an order of magnitude greater than that of endothelin-1 (ET-1), which would make it the most potent mammalian vasoconstrictor identified to date. Urotensin-II is a neuropeptide "somatostatin-like" cyclic peptide, which was originally isolated from fish spinal cords, and which has recently been cloned from human. Human U-II is composed of only 11 amino acids residues, while fish and frog U-II possess 12 and 13 amino acids residues, respectively. The cyclic region of U-II, which is responsible for the biological activity of the peptide, has been fully conserved from fish to human. This review focuses on recent structure-activity relationships studies performed on Urotensin-II with the aim to provide the required structural elements to design new ligands as agonists and antagonists for UT receptor.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Molecular Structure
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Urotensins / metabolism
  • Urotensins / pharmacology*
  • Vasoconstrictor Agents / metabolism
  • Vasoconstrictor Agents / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Urotensins
  • Vasoconstrictor Agents
  • urotensin II