Kinin peptides

Blais Jr, Marceau F, Rouleau JL et al (2000) The kallikrein-kininogen-kinin system lessons from the quantification of endogenous kinins. Peptides 21 1903—1940... 

Wasp and hornet venoms are distinguished from bee venoms by their lower content of peptides. They contain kinin peptide, which may cause smooth muscle contraction and lowered blood pressure. Two biogenic amines in wasp and hornet venoms (serotonin and acetylcholine) lower blood pressure and cause pain. Acetylcholine may cause malfunction of heart and skeletal muscles. 

Chatterjee, C. and Mukhopadhyay, C. (2005) Interaction and structural study of kinin peptide bradykinin and ganglioside monosialylated 1 micelle. Biopolymers 78, 197-205. 

Muscle cells release kallikrein during inflammation causing formation of active kinin peptides (bradykinin and kallidin) from kininogen [65, 66]. Kinins are peptide hormones that produce vasodilation, increase capillary permeability, and cause pain and infiltration of neutrophils. There is a direct correlation between the amount of kinin in plasma or tissues and the degree of inflammation. Vascular dilation causes increased blood flow to infection [67, 68], Bik inhibits formation of kinins and vascular dilation by kallikrein, thereby inhibiting smooth muscle contraction [69-71],... 

Campbell DJ. Towards understanding the kallikrein-kinin system Insights from measurement of kinin peptides. Braz J Med Biol Res 2000 33 665-677. 

Bradykinin and related kinin peptides are produced by leucocytes and act via Gaq to elevate cytosolic Ca2+ and promote nitric oxide (NO) synthesis, smooth muscle contraction, capillary permeability, inflammation and histamine release from mast cells. 

Kallikrein is a proteinase enzyme, which converts kininogen to vasodilative kinin peptides. The human tissue kallikrein gene, in the form of naked pDNA (CMV-cHK), was directly delivered by intracerebroventricular injection into hypertensive rats. The expression of human tissue kallikrein protein was identified in the cortex, cerebellum, brain stem, hippocampus, and hypothalamus of the treated rats. The expression level and its effect could lead to understanding the role of vasodilative KKS on the pathogenesis of hypertension. 

Because renal vasodilatation and hyperfiltration are often associated with a natriuretic response, a number of activators or inhibitors of endogenous vasoactive systems can cause increased NaCl excretion, and some of these may be developed into compounds of clinical interest in special situations. Such agents include natriuretic pqDtides most notably B-type natriuretic peptide (nesiritide), neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibitors (thiorphan, phosphoramidon), mixed NEP and ACE inhibitors (omapatrilat), guanylin and uroguanylin, kinins, prostaglandins of the E series, adrenomedullin, relaxin, prolactin, and others. 

Kinins are a group of peptide hormones of 8-11 residues that act locally as proinflammatory agents, often through the release of powerful downstream effectors such as nitric oxide and/or prostaglandins. 

The quantification of kinins in human tissues or body fluids has been limited due to the inherent difficulties in accurately measuring the concentration of ephemeral peptides. Today HPLC-based and RIA/capture-ELA measurements are established to determine kinins in human plasma, liquor or mine. Serine protease inhibitors need to be added to prevent rapid degradation of the kinins in vitro during sample preparation. Kinins and their degradation products have been studied in various biological milieus such as plasma/ serum, urine, joint fluids, kidney, lung and skeletal muscle [2]. Under normal conditions, the concentration of kinins in these compartments is extremely low for... 

ACE not only activates angiotensin but is also involved in the metabolism of other peptides, e.g., it is a major kinin-degrading enzyme. Therefore, ACE inhibitors also increase kinin concentrations. Furthermore, it has recently been shown that these drugs potentiate kinin effects by modulating a direct interaction between the ACE protein and the kinin B2 receptor, which is independent from the enzymatic activity of ACE. Kinin potentiation may be involved in the beneficial action of ACE inhibition since kinins are known to exert cardio- and renoprotective actions. 

Bradykinin is part of the kallikrein-kinin system, which shares a link to the RAAS through angiotensin-converting enzyme. Bradykinin is a vasodilatory peptide that is released in response to a variety of stimuli, including neurohormonal and inflammatory mediators known to be activated in HF.9 As a... 

In their initial studies on the effects of vasoactive peptides on mast-cell secretion, Johnson and Erdos [31] concluded that the ability of peptides to elicit a secretory response from mast cells depended upon the number of basic groups a peptide contained, and not on the structure of the N-terminal or C-terminal amino acids per se. They found, for example, that Polistes kinin, with... 

ACE is a rather nonspecific peptidase that can cleave C-terminal dipeptides from various peptides (dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase). As kininase 11, it contributes to the inactivation of kinins, such as bradykinin. ACE is also present in blood plasma however, enzyme localized in the luminal side of vascular endothelium is primarily responsible for the formation of angiotensin 11. The lung is rich in ACE, but kidneys, heart, and other organs also contain the enzyme. 

The kallikrein-kinin system is an enzymatic pathway giving rise to two predominant vasoactive peptides, kallidin and bradykinin. Kallikrein, the enzyme responsible for the formation of these peptides, exists in plasma and tissues. However, circulating levels of the end products, kalhdin and bradykinin, are quite low because the kalhkrein enzymes are present largely in inactive forms. In addition, the short half-life of these peptides (15 seconds) also contributes to low plasma levels. In general, the kinins produce relaxation of vascular smooth muscle and vasodilation. Bradykinin causes... 

In addition to the phagocytic activity of the leukocytes, small peptide substances, such as the kinins, which are thought to be partially responsible for the local inflammatory response in gouty arthritis, accumulate in the joint space. The inflammation is associated with local vasodilation, increased vascular permeability, and pain. 

After the early discovery of a tyrosine 0-sulfate residue in bovine fibrinopeptide B, 15 this posttranslational modification which occurs ubiquitously in proteins was also detected in a series of biologically active peptides such as the neurohormones of the gastrin/cholecysto-kinin (CCK) family of peptides, phyllokinin, Leu-enkephalin, and the thrombin inhibitor hirudin listed in Table 1. 

Angioedema may be precipitated by histamine release but appears to be maintained by peptide kinins that are not affected by antihistaminic agents. For atopic dermatitis, antihistaminic drugs such as diphenhydramine are used mostly for their sedative side effect, which reduces awareness of itching. 

Peptides are used by most tissues for cell-to-cell communication. As noted in Chapters 6 and 21, they play important roles in the autonomic and central nervous systems. Several peptides exert important direct effects on vascular and other smooth muscles. These peptides include vasoconstrictors (angiotensin II, vasopressin, endothelins, neuropeptide Y, and urotensin) and vasodilators (bradykinin and related kinins, natriuretic peptides, vasoactive intestinal peptide, substance P, neurotensin, calcitonin gene-related peptide, and adrenomedullin). This chapter focuses on the smooth muscle actions of the peptides. 

Kinins are potent vasodilator peptides formed enzymatically by the action of enzymes known as kallikreins or kininogenases acting on protein substrates called kininogens. The kallikrein-kinin system has several features in common with the renin-angiotensin system. 

The synthesis of kinins can be inhibited with the kallikrein inhibitor aprotinin. Actions of kinins mediated by prostaglandin generation can be blocked nonspecifically with inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis such as aspirin. Conversely, the actions of kinins can be enhanced with ACE inhibitors, which block the degradation of the peptides. Indeed, as noted above, inhibition of bradykinin metabolism by ACE inhibitors contributes significantly to their antihypertensive action. 

Overall, the kinins are an important part of a well-organized physiological system. The various aspects and interdependencies of the kinin system have been, and continue to be, the focus of intensive research efforts in many laboratories. Many pharmaceutical companies have identified this system as an ideal site for therapeutic intervention in many inflammatory diseases. Hence, there have been many diverse approaches taken toward the discovery of antagonists (peptide and nonpeptide) of B2 and B1 receptors. This review focuses on the structure-based design strategies pursued in our laboratories during the past several years. 

There have been a variety of single alanine point mutations experimentally introduced into both rat and human bradykinin B2 receptors. Several of these have been shown to decrease the affinity of bradykinin to the receptor and have been implicated structurally near the agonist binding site. In contrast, at the time of this manuscript, there have been no mutations reported that adversely affect the ability of any peptide antagonists to bind to the receptor. Furthermore, antibodies raised against the certain extracellular domains of the kinin receptor compete with bradykinin for binding to the receptor but have no inhibitory... 

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