title: Recent advances in the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2-angiotensin(1-7)-Mas axis.
abstract: In the past few years, the classical concept of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has experienced substantial conceptual changes. The identification of: the renin/prorenin receptor; the angiotensin-converting enzyme homologue, ACE2, as an angiotensin peptide-processing enzyme and a virus receptor for severe acute respiratory syndrome, the Mas as a receptor for angiotensin (1-7) [Ang(1-7)], and the possibility of signaling through ACE have contributed to switch our understanding of the RAS from the classical limited-proteolysis linear cascade to a cascade with multiple mediators, multiple receptors and multifunctional enzymes. With regard to Ang(1-7), the identification of ACE2 and of Mas as a receptor implicated in its actions contributed to decisively establish this heptapeptide as a biologically active member of the RAS cascade. In this review, we will focus on the recent findings related to the ACE2-Ang(1-7)-Mas axis and, in particular, on its putative role as an ACE-Ang II-AT(1) receptor counter-regulatory axis within the RAS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31.270-901, Brazil. marrob@dedalus.lcc.ufmg.br
authors.forename: Robson A S
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Anderson J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Ana Cristina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Simões E Silva
mesh_terms: D000803:Angiotensin I / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000085962:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000201:enzymology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D000803:Angiotensin I; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A; C000705307:ACE2 protein, human; D000085962:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2; C118790:angiotensin I (1-7)