Kidney Hormone is Potential Heart Disease Drug

Researchers have found that renalase, a protein produced by the kidneys that functions as a hormone regulating heart contraction and blood pressure, may be suitable for development into a drug for treatment of advanced kidney and cardiovascular disease.

Investigators at the Yale School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA) seeking to identify hormones secreted by the kidneys examined the expression of 114 different genes. Ultimately, they focused on the protein renalase, since its plasma concentration is markedly reduced in patients with end-stage renal disease, as compared with healthy subjects. These patients are often only treatable by dialysis and very often suffer from elevated blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

Results published in the May 2005 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation revealed that rats treated with renalase showed a decrease in cardiac contractility, heart rate, and blood pressure without a compensatory increase in peripheral vascular tone. Senior author Dr. Gary Desir, professor of nephrology at Yale Medical School, said, "We are hopeful that renalase will impact the treatment of chronic kidney disease as favorably as erythropoietin, and change the way in which we treat patients with chest pain and heart attacks.”