Molecular Aspects and Natural Source of Procalcitonin
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Stefan Russwurm
Abstract
The search for sensitive and specific markers of systemic infection has shown that procalcitonin levels are increased in sepsis, and, consequently, this plasma protein has come into the focus of clinical research. Human procalcitonin is encoded by the Calc-I gene, which gives rise to two alternatively spliced transcripts. Despite systemic investigation of the Calc-I gene and mechanisms of the tissue-specific regulation and alternative splicing, little is known about the biology of procalcitonin and the cells which express this protein during inflammation. Here we focus on the molecular and biochemical properties of the molecule and summarize the known biological functions of procalcitonin. We report on the structure of the Calc-I gene, the amino acid conservation of procalcitonin in different species, and the consensus sequences of the protein with regard to sites relevant for posttranslational modification, spatial distribution, and homologies to other cytokines. We discuss aspects of intracellular location of procalcitonin and demonstrate that it has the characteristics of a secreted protein.
Copyright © 1999 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
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Articles in the same Issue
- Oxidized Low Density Lipoprotein: Atherogenic and Proinflammatory Characteristics during Macrophage Foam Cell Formation. An Inhibitory Role for Nutritional Antioxidants and Serum Paraoxonase
- Molecular Aspects and Natural Source of Procalcitonin
- Urinary Porphyrin Excretion in Hepatitis C Infection
- Quantification of Low Abundance Natriuretic Peptide Receptor mRNA in Rat Tissues
- Rat Tissue Collagen Modified by Advanced Glycation: Correlation with Duration of Diabetes and Glycemic Control
- Reference Values for a Homogeneous Ferritin Assay and Traceability to the 3rd International Recombinant Standard for Ferritin (NIBSC Code 94/572)
- Iron Saturation of Ferritin in the Course of Phlebotomy Treatment in Patients with Haemochromatosis
- Neural Networks for the Biochemical Prediction of Bone Mass Loss
- Serum Dipeptidyl Peptidase IV Activity Correlates with the T-Cell CD26 Antigen
- The Baltic Atherosclerosis Journal
- Concise Biochemistry, by Anatol Bezkorovainy and Max E. Rafelson Jr.
- Cytokines in Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock, by H. Redl and G. Schlag
