Ürotensin2 ve Ürotensin Reseptörlerinin Kanserdeki Rolü (The Role of Urotensin2 and Urotensin Receptors in Cancers)

Büşra DİNCER*, Elif ÇADIRCI**°

* Erzincan Üniversitesi, Eczacılık Fakültesi, Farmakoloji Anabilim Dalı, Erzincan.
** Atatürk Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi, Tıbbi Farmakoloji Anabilim Dalı, Erzurum.

°Corresponding Author:
Phone:+90 (442) 344 87 35
E-mail: ecadirci@atauni. edu. tr

Summary

Urotensin 2 (UT2) as a vasoactive cyclic peptide composed of 11 amino acids, draws the attention with its potent vasoconstrictor effects. UT2 like other vasoactive peptides has a significant role of vascular tonus regulation, and its physiological mechanism is similar to that of endothelin-1. It is known that some vasoactive peptides are released from tumour cells and have roles as autocrine/ paracrine factors. Moreover, UT2 and Urotensin2 Receptor (UTR) mediate mitogenic activity through PKC/cSrc/ERK and RhoA/Rho kinase pathways. Recent studies about UT2/UTR have shown that UT2/UTR have significant effects in the pathophysiology of many diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular and renal disease. From this point of view, it could be thought that UT2/UTR can play a role in cancer pathogenesis. In addition, the effects of UT2/UTR on adrenal tumours have recently drawn attention of scientists to this peptide much. As a result, the idea of UT2/UTR as a new marker in cancer pathogenesis led the scientists study on lung, liver, breast, prostate, and other cancer types. This review study has focused on mitogenic and angiogenic effects of UT2/UTR which could have a role in the tumour pathogenesis.

Key Words :
Urotensin 2, Urotensin receptor, vasoactive peptide, cancer, mitogenic, angiogenic.