Role of prokineticin receptor 2 in cardiac cellular interaction

Prokineticin 1 and prokineticin 2 are active proteins and they perform biological activities G-protein coupled receptors called prokineticin receptor 1 and prokineticin receptor 2. Prokineticins and their receptors are expressed large number of cells and have different effects on the body. In this thesis, the role of prokineticin receptor 2 in cardiomyocyte-endothelial cell interaction was investigated. Over-expression of prokineticin receptor 2 was achieved by transfection in H9c2 cardiomyocyte cell line. In cardiomyocytes overexpressing prokineticin levels, cytokine levels were determined by cytokine antibody array. Expression levels and protein levels of the selected potential cytokines were determined by western blot and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction methods. This study shows that cytokines which are released from cardiomyocytes such as activin and endoglin, may cause vascular leakage in endothelial cells as a paracrine factor.