Uromodulin and translational medicine: will the SNPs bring zip to clinical practice?

摘要

Tamm-Horsfall protein (THP) was originally described in 1895 as "urinary mucoprotein" and biochemically characterized approximately 50 years ago. Kidney epithelial cells of. all placental mammals synthesize THP, and it is the most abundant protein in normal urine. Pirica, a novel THP-like gene that is induced in response to predation, was recently identified in tadpoles, suggesting that THP family proteins are also present in invertebrate species. Uromodulin was originally reported as a unique immunosuppressive glycoprotein from the urine of pregnant women, and its amino acid composition is identical to THP. Standard nomenclature for THP is now uromodulin.