Is Natriuretic Peptide Receptor C a New Target for Hypertension Therapeutics?

Abstract

See related article, pp 846–855 Natriuretic peptides (NPs) include atrial NP (ANP), B-type NP, and C-type NP. NPs exert cardiovascular protective effects through interaction with their receptors. There are 2 major classes of NP receptors (NPRs): guanylyl cyclase–coupled receptors A and B (NPR-A and NPR-B) and inhibitory guanine nucleotide regulatory protein (inhibitory G protein)–coupled receptor C (NPR-C; Figure). The cardiovascular protective effects of NPs have been primarily attributed to the elevation of intracellular cGMP via NPR-A and NPR-B.1 NPR-C, initially identified as a clearance receptor,2 has been shown to inhibit adenylyl cyclase via the α subunit of the inhibitory G protein and to stimulate phospholipase C signaling via the βγ subunits of the same inhibitory G protein.3 NPR-C is widely distributed in many tissues and cell types and has higher density than …