Biology of the B-Type Natriuretic Peptide: Structure, Synthesis and Processing

In 1988, a new member of the natriuretic peptide family was isolated.BNP is a circulating hormone playing key role, together with the sympathetic nervous system and other hormones like an endogeneous system in the regulation of the body fluid homeostasis and blood pressure.The function and physiological role of B type natriuretic peptide is pleiotropic.BNP is synthesized from polypeptide precursors.BNP and N-terminal proBNP are the products of pro BNP processing.In many cardiovascular diseases natriuretic peptides serve not only as marker for diagnosis and prognosis but they have therapeutic importance.In the last years the potential use of the elevated BNP levels for diagnosis of pre-eclampsia was examined.In our review, we discuss the current understanding of molecular biology, biochemistry and clinical relevance of natriuretic peptides.