Abstract

NEUROMEDIN U: A BIOACTIVE PEPTIDE AND ITS ROLE IN PANCREATIC CANCER

Ritika Singh*, Renuka Verma, Ruchi Bhattacharya, Ashish Netam, Jhakeshwar Prasad, Trilochan Satapathy

ABSTRACT

Neuromedin U (NmU) is a neuropeptide belonging to the neuromedin family and is found in the brain of humans and other mammals. They have number of diverse functions and a highly conserved neuropeptide present in many species, existing as multiple isoforms. Neuromedin U is exerting its biological response mediated via two receptors, peripheral NmUR1 and central nervous system NmUR2. Both receptors are examples of Class A G-protein coupled receptors (or GPCRs) with a distinct distributional pattern. The activation of NmU receptors leads to intracellular signal transduction via calcium mobilization, phosphoinositide (or PI) signaling, and the inhibition of cAMP production. Several other peptide and non-peptide ligands are also available for the NMU receptors for example Neuromedin S is NmUR2 selective. The exact role of neuromedin- u in cancer is not yet fully understood. The research output revealed that, theNmU and its receptor NMUR2 have been shown to be over-expressed in human pancreatic cancers compared to normal cells. Studies also showed NmU serum levels decreased after the tumors were removed, as NmU and its receptor are localized predominantly in cancer cells. So in this article we have tried to summarize the mechanism of over-expression of neuromedin U receptors in pancreatic cancer via different signal transduction mechanism.

Keywords: Neuromedin U, Pancreatic cancer, G-protein coupled receptors, Signal transduction.