Plasma kallikrein and prorenin in patients with hereditary angioedema.

Recent evidence indicates that plasma kallikrein is activated during acute attacks of hereditary angioedema. Plasma kallikrein is known to convert inactive renin, or prorenin, into an active proteolytic enzyme in plasma exposed to acid or low temperatures as well as in purified systems. To establish whether plasma kallikrein could activate prorenin under physiologic or pathologic conditions, prorenin to renin conversion was assessed at neutral pH in plasma deficient in C1 inhibitor (hereditary angioedema). In these plasma samples lacking the two major inhibitors of kallikrein and possessing less than 10% of the inhibitory activity of normal plasma, prorenin was not converted to an active enzyme despite conditions under which prekallikrein was completely activated to plasma kallikrein and despite normal prorenin concentrations and activability.