title: Chromogranin A and derived peptides in health and disease.
abstract: Chromogranin A (CgA) is a member of the granins, a family of acidic proteins found in abundance in (neuro)endocrine cells (e.g., in chromaffin cells) and in some tumors. Like other granins, CgA has a granulogenic role in secretory granule biogenesis and is stored in these organelles. CgA is partially processed differentially in various cell types to yield biologically active peptides, such as vasostatin, pancreastatin, catestatin, and serpinins. In this review, we describe the roles of CgA and several of its derived peptides. CgA, which is elevated in the blood of cancer patients, inhibits angiogenesis and exerts protective effects on the endothelial barrier function in tumors, thus affecting response to chemotherapy. Recent studies indicate that the serpinins promote cell survival and myocardial contractility and relaxation. Other peptides such as pancreastatin were found to have significant effects on inhibition of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and glucose up-take, induction of glycogenolysis in hepatocytes, and inhibition of lipogenesis. In contrast, catestatin has opposite effects to that of pancreastatin in glucose metabolism and lipogenesis. Catestatin appears to also play a significant role in cardiac function, blood pressure regulation, and mutations in the catestatin domain of the CgA gene are associated with hypertension in humans.
authors.affiliation: Section on Cellular Neurobiology, Program on Developmental Neuroscience, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. lohp@mail.nih.gov
authors.forename: Y Peng
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Loh
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Sushil K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mahata
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Corti
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tota
mesh_terms: D019439:Chromaffin Cells / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D053379:Chromogranin A / Q000502:physiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C506150:CHGA protein, human; D053379:Chromogranin A; D010446:Peptide Fragments