Emerging biological functions of ribonuclease 1 and angiogenin

Abstract

Pancreatic-type ribonucleases (ptRNases) are a large family of vertebrate-specific secretory endoribonucleases. These enzymes catalyze the degradation of many RNA substrates and thereby mediate a variety of biological functions. Though the homology of ptRNases has informed biochemical characterization and evolutionary analyses, the understanding of their biological roles is incomplete. Here, we review the functions of two ptRNases: RNase 1 and angiogenin. RNase 1, which is an abundant ptRNase with high catalytic activity, has newly discovered roles in inflammation and blood coagulation. Angiogenin, which promotes neovascularization, is now known to play roles in the progression of cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, as well as in the cellular stress response. Ongoing work is illuminating the biology of these and other ptRNases.

Keywords:

• Blood coagulation
• endoribonuclease
• extracellular RNA
• inflammation
• pancreatic-type ribonuclease
• stress

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to C. S. Travis, E. C. Wralstad, and O. J. Molina for comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content of this paper.

Additional information

Funding

Work in our laboratory on ribonucleases is supported by the NIH (grant R01 CA073808).