In this study, we investigated the effects of a selective urotensin II (UII) receptor antagonist, SB-657510, on the inflammatory response induced by UII in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (EA.hy926) and human monocytes (U937). UII induced inflammatory activation of endothelial cells through expression of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-6), adhesion molecules (VCAM-1), and tissue ...

Background. Urotensin II (UII) is the most potent endogenous vasoconstrictor identified to date. Pre-eclampsia is associated with arteriolar vasospasm but the precise underlying mechanism is uncertain and we hypothesized that UII concentrations might also be elevated. In this study we measured UII concentrations in maternal plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and umbilical vein plasma from pr...

INTRODUCTION Urotensin II (UII) is a vasoactive peptide secreted by endothelial cells. Increased plasma UII concentration was observed in patients with heart failure, liver cirrhosis, diabetic nephropathy and renal insufficiency. In patients with myocardial infarction both increased and decreased plasma UII concentrations were demonstrated. The aim of this study was to analyze whether plasma UI...

Although urotensin II (UII) and somatostatin 1 (SS1) exhibit some structural similarities, their precursors do not show any appreciable sequence identity and, thus, it is widely accepted that the UII and SS1 genes do not derive from a common ancestral gene. The recent characterization of novel isoforms of these two peptides, namely urotensin II-related peptide (URP) and somatostatin 2 (SS2)/cor...

In order to elucidate the role of desorption/ionization efficiency of peptides in MALDI-MS, we focused on peptides with disulfide bonds, which form a rigid tertiary structure. We synthesized seven sets of peptides with one disulfide bond (oxytocin, somatostatin, [Arg(8)]-vasopressin, [Arg(8)]-vasotocin, cortistatin, melanin-concentrating hormone, urotensin II-related peptide) and five sets of ...

In the goby, Gillichthys mirabilis, urotensin II (a bioactive neuropeptide present in the urophysis of teleost fish) has the dodecapeptide sequence, H2N-AGTADC-FWKYCV-OH, which is homologous with mammalian somatostatin at positions 1, 2 and 7-9. The Merrifield solid phase synthesis of Gillichthys urotensin II (UII) was accomplished by stepwise assembly from the carboxy terminus using N-alpha-te...

Urotensin II (UII), originally identified from fish urophysis, is a potent vasoactive peptide and an endogenous ligand for an orphan G protein-coupled receptor GPR14, now named as urotensin II receptor (UT-R). In this study, we investigated the mRNA and protein expressions of UII and its receptor (UT-R) in human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells, and the effect of exogenous UII on the proliferatio...

OBJECTIVE To verify neurokinin B (NKB) and urotensin II (UII) plasma levels in pre-eclampsia (PE) and to determine the relationship between plasma NKB and UII levels. METHOD A total of 60 women in the third trimester of pregnancy were recruited, 40 women with PE (study patients) and 20 age- and BMI-matched normotensive women (healthy controls). They were divided into three groups: the 20 norm...