Urotensin-II (U-II) is a cyclic peptide that acts through a G protein-coupled receptor (urotensin-II receptor [UTR]) mainly involved in cardiovascular function in humans. The urotensinergic system is also implicated in the urogenital tract. Indeed, U-II relaxes human corpus cavernosum strips and causes an increase in intracavernous pressure (ICP) in rats. In light of this, the U-II/UTR pathway ...

Urotensin II (UII) is an 11 amino acid cyclic peptide originally isolated from the goby fish. The amino acid sequence of UII is exceptionally conserved across most vertebrate taxa, sharing structural similarity to somatostatin. UII binds to a class of G-protein coupled receptor known as GPR14 or the urotensin receptor (UT). UII and its receptor UT are widely expressed throughout the cardiovascu...

Human urotensin-II (hU-II) is processed from its prohormone (ProhU-II) at putative cleavage sites for furin and serine proteases such as trypsin. Although proteolysis is required for biological activity, the endogenous "urotensin-converting enzyme" (UCE) has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate UCE activity in cultured human cells and in blood, comparing activity with...