ANGPTL3: a novel biomarker and promising therapeutic target

Abstract

Angiopoietin-like protein 3 (ANGPTL3) belongs to a multifunctional secreted protein that mainly expresses in the liver, and is regulated by numerous post-translational modifications, including multiple cleavage and glycosylation. Accumulating evidences have revealed that ANGPTL3 plays a critical role in both biological processes, such as lipid metabolism, angiogenesis and haematopoietic function and pathological changes, including atherosclerosis, carcinogenesis, nephrotic syndrome, diabetes, liver diseases and so on. Thus, ANGPTL3 may serve as a potential biomarker in these diseases. Furthermore, ANGPTL3 signalling pathways including LXR/ANGPTL3, thyroid hormone/ANGPTL3, insulin/ANGPTL3 and leptin/ANGPTL3 are also involved in physiological and pathological processes. Some biological ANGPTL3 inhibitors, chemical drugs and traditional Chinese medicine exert beneficial effects by targeting ANGPTL3 directly or indirectly. Therefore, elucidating the effects and underlying mechanisms of ANGPTL3 is essential to develop promising strategies in the diagnosis and treatment of related diseases.

Keywords:

• ANGPTL3
• signalling pathway
• biological feature
• biomarkers; therapeutic target

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (81270359, 81774130, 81670268), Key projects of Hunan traditional Chinese Medicine Administration (No. 201614), Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of Hunan Province (2018JJ1018) and Hunan Provincial Key Discipline of Pharmaceutical Science.