Corin is highly expressed in atherosclerosis models.

Corin is a serine protease mainly expressed in the heart, where it regulates blood pressure and cardiac function through activating pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (pro-ANP) to ANP. Its expression has also been detected in non-cardiac tissues. However, there is no report so far about the distribution and function of corin in aorta and in related diseases such as atherosclerosis. This study was the first to explore corin expression in aorta both under normal conditions and in atherosclerosis models. In vivo, we found corin had a basal level of expression in aortas, mainly in intimal endothelial cells and was significantly elevated in mouse atherosclerosis model. Moreover, we observed pro-ANP, the specific substrate of corin, was also expressed in mice aortas and increased in mouse atherosclerosis model. In vitro, we further demonstrated corin expression in cultured vascular endothelial cells and its induced expression after ox-LDL stimulation. Our results suggested that corin may play important roles in aorta physiology and in the pathophysiological process of atherosclerosis in an autocrine manner and has potential clinical value for the treatment of atherosclerosis.