Angiotensinase C Background Information
Angiotensinase C, also designated lysosomal Pro-X carboxypeptidase or prolylcarboxypeptidase, belongs to the peptidase S28 family. Angiotensinase C which is highly expressed in placenta, lung and liver and is also expressed in heart, pancreas, kidney and brain, is a cell matrix-associated prekalli-krein (PK) activator. Angiotensin II, a substrate of Angiotensinase C, is involved in regulating blood pressure and electrolyte balance, suggesting that the gene encoding for Angiotensinase C may be related to essential hypertension, a condition involving high blood pressure with no known cause. Angiotensinase C cleaves off the C-terminal amino acids linked to proline in peptides such as Angiotensin II, III and des-Arg9-bradykinin. The cleavage occurs at an acidic pH, but with some substrates enzymatic activity is retained at a neutral pH.
