PRCP explained

Lysosomal Pro-X carboxypeptidase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the PRCP gene.^{[1] [2]}

The protein encoded by this gene is a lysosomal prolylcarboxypeptidase, which cleaves C-terminal amino acids linked to proline in peptides such as angiotensin II, III and des-Arg9-bradykinin. The cleavage occurs at acidic pH, but the enzyme activity is retained with some substrates at neutral pH. This enzyme has been shown to be an activator of the cell matrix-associated prekallikrein. The importance of angiotensin II, one of the substrates of this enzyme, in regulating blood pressure and electrolyte balance suggests that this gene may be related to essential hypertension. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been observed.

Further reading

• Odya CE, Marinkovic DV, Hammon KJ, etal . Purification and properties of prolylcarboxypeptidase (angiotensinase C) from human kidney . J. Biol. Chem. . 253 . 17 . 5927–31 . 1978 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(17)34557-X . 28321 . free .
• Yang HY, Erdös EG, Chiang TS . New enzymatic route for the inactivation of angiotensin . Nature . 218 . 5148 . 1224–6 . 1968 . 4297812 . 10.1038/2181224a0 . 1968Natur.218.1224Y . 4245271 .
• Jackman HL, Tan F, Schraufnagel D, etal . Plasma membrane-bound and lysosomal peptidases in human alveolar macrophages . Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. . 13 . 2 . 196–204 . 1995 . 7626287 . 10.1165/ajrcmb.13.2.7626287.
• Watson B, Nowak NJ, Myracle AD, etal . The human angiotensinase C gene (HUMPCP) maps to 11q14 within 700 kb of D11S901: a candidate gene for essential hypertension . Genomics . 44 . 3 . 365–7 . 1997 . 9325062 . 10.1006/geno.1997.4883 .
• Shariat-Madar Z, Mahdi F, Schmaier AH . Identification and characterization of prolylcarboxypeptidase as an endothelial cell prekallikrein activator . J. Biol. Chem. . 277 . 20 . 17962–9 . 2002 . 11830581 . 10.1074/jbc.M106101200 . free .
• Moreira CR, Schmaier AH, Mahdi F, etal . Identification of prolylcarboxypeptidase as the cell matrix-associated prekallikrein activator . FEBS Lett. . 523 . 1–3 . 167–70 . 2002 . 12123826 . 10.1016/S0014-5793(02)02980-0 . 2027.42/116370 . 30374027 . free .
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH, etal . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Ota T, Suzuki Y, Nishikawa T, etal . Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs . Nat. Genet. . 36 . 1 . 40–5 . 2004 . 14702039 . 10.1038/ng1285 . free .
• Shariat-Madar Z, Mahdi F, Schmaier AH . Recombinant prolylcarboxypeptidase activates plasma prekallikrein . Blood . 103 . 12 . 4554–61 . 2004 . 14996700 . 10.1182/blood-2003-07-2510 . 2027.42/106127 . 339839 . free .
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, etal . The Status, Quality, and Expansion of the NIH Full-Length cDNA Project: The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 .
• Wang L, Feng Y, Zhang Y, etal . Prolylcarboxypeptidase gene, chronic hypertension, and risk of preeclampsia . Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. . 195 . 1 . 162–71 . 2006 . 16681991 . 10.1016/j.ajog.2006.01.079 .

Notes and References

1. Tan F, Morris PW, Skidgel RA, Erdos EG . Sequencing and cloning of human prolylcarboxypeptidase (angiotensinase C). Similarity to both serine carboxypeptidase and prolylendopeptidase families . J Biol Chem . 268 . 22 . 16631–8 . Sep 1993 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(19)85465-0 . 8344943 . free .
2. Web site: Entrez Gene: PRCP prolylcarboxypeptidase (angiotensinase C).