Nature Communications (Jan 2018)

Homocysteine directly interacts and activates the angiotensin II type I receptor to aggravate vascular injury

  • Tuoyi Li,
  • Bing Yu,
  • Zhixin Liu,
  • Jingyuan Li,
  • Mingliang Ma,
  • Yingbao Wang,
  • Mingjiang Zhu,
  • Huiyong Yin,
  • Xiaofeng Wang,
  • Yi Fu,
  • Fang Yu,
  • Xian Wang,
  • Xiaohong Fang,
  • Jinpeng Sun,
  • Wei Kong

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02401-7
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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High homocysteine plasma levels are associated with cardiovascular diseases. Here, Li and colleagues find that homocysteine aggravates vascular injury by direct binding to the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R), identifying AT1R inhibition as a potential strategy to counteract the deleterious vascular effects of hyperhomocysteinemia.