Activation and function of prorenin: different viewpoints

This Symposium includes 15 presentations and an editorial review dealing with prorenin activation and function. It comes 20 years after prorenin was first reported in various contexts and attracted attention because of its connection with renin–angiotensin, its high concentration relative to renin in the blood, and its presence in extrarenal, as well as renal, tissues. Intriguing changes in plasma prorenin have been reported after treatment with antihypertensive and other drugs, following various physiological stimuli, and in pathophysiological states such as Wilms' tumor, Bartter's syndrome, and diabetic nephropathy. Lately, very high prorenin concentrations have been found in human and animal ocular fluid, ovarian follicular fluid, and in association with angiogenesis and microangiopathy. High circulating prorenin concentrations and fulminant hypertension have been reported in rats harbouring the mouse Ren-2 gene. However, what prorenin does in all these extrarenal fluids, tissues, and conditions is not...