Intracellular Renin Protects Cardiomyocytes from Ischemic Injury in Diabetic Heart

Abstract

prorenin and AGN. Prorenin can be either excreted immediately or converted into renin by proteolytic cleavage of the prosegment [4].The existence of (pro) renin receptor that can bind to both renin and prorenin was reported. The binding to the (pro) renin receptor actives prorenin through the induction of conformational changes of the prosegment [5]. Receptor binding to prorenin/renin also triggers its own intracellular signaling pathways, independently from AngII generation [6].An alternatively spliced renin transcript, which does not encode a secretory signal, was identified, and renin encoded by this transcript had a truncated prosegment, which compromises the secretory signal sequence and remains within the cytosol [7-9]. In the adrenal gland, the non-secreted intracellular renin exists predominantly within mitochondria [10]. The non-secretory renin was also found in cardiomyocytes [7,8]. In H9c2 cells, overexpression of the alternatively spliced renin transcript resulted in the compartmentation of non-