Angiotensin II signal transduction in vascular smooth muscle cells: role of tyrosine kinases.

Originally known to be a vasoconstrictor and thought to play a critical role in hypertension, angiotensin II has recently emerged to be important in inflammation, atherosclerosis and congestive heart failure. The expanding role of angiotensin II implies that multiple signal transduction pathways are likely to be activated in a tissue-specific manner. Recent data show that angiotensin II stimulates not only cytoplasmic tyrosine kinases including c-Src, focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and Janus kinases (JAK2 and TYK2), but also may transactivate receptor tyrosine kinases such as Axl and PDGF by as yet undefined autocrine/paracrine mechanisms. Finally, tyrosine kinases, which mediate tyrosine phosphorylation of key signal mediators such as Shc, Raf, and phospholipase C-gamma following angiotensin II stimulation, remain to be defined. These tyrosine kinases, activated by angiotensin II, appear to be required for angiotensin II effects such as vasoconstriction, proto-oncogene expression, protein synthesis, and cell proliferation. Thus, it is important to understand angiotensin II-mediated signaling events, especially those related to tyrosine kinase activity, to develop new therapies for cardiovascular diseases.