Title:Adrenomedullin in Cardiovascular Disease: A Useful Biomarker, its Pathological Roles and Therapeutic Application
Volume: 14
Issue: 4
Author(s): Toshio Nishikimi, Koichiro Kuwahara, Yasuaki Nakagawa, Kenji Kangawa and Kazuwa Nakao
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Adrenomedullin, myocardial infarction, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, prognosis, ischemia/reperfusion.
Abstract: Many neurohumoral factors play important roles in the regulation of the cardiovascular system and in the
pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. Adrenomedullin (AM) is a potent vasodilatory peptide originally discovered in
the acid extract of human pheochromocytoma tissue but now known to exert a variety of effects within the cardiovascular
system. AM expression is widely distributed throughout the cardiovascular system and has been identified in the heart,
lungs, blood vessels and kidneys. In addition, the co-localization of AM and its receptor components suggest AM acts as
an autocrine and/or paracrine factor to play a key role in the regulation of cardiovascular function. Evidence also strongly
suggests that cardiovascular disease is associated with elevated levels of AM in plasma and tissue. In this review, we describe
the pathophysiological changes in plasma and local AM associated with myocardial infarction, heart failure and
pulmonary hypertension. We also describe the clinical application of AM in cardiovascular disease from the viewpoints of
diagnosis and treatment.
