When 6 is 9: 'uncoupled' AT1 receptors turn signalling on its head.

The type 1 angiotensin receptor (AT(1)) activates an array of intracellular signalling pathways that control cell and tissue responses to the peptide hormone angiotensin II (AngII). The capacity of AT(1) receptors to initiate and maintain such signals has typically been explained on the basis of conventional heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide binding protein (G protein) activation, specifically G(q/11). Accumulating evidence from studies utilising a variety of AT(1) receptor mutants and AngII analogues indicates that some important downstream effects of AT(1) receptors are independent of classical G protein coupling. Importantly, AT(1) receptor-mediated endocytosis, tyrosine phosphorylation signalling and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation as well as transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor can occur in G(q/11)-uncoupled receptor mutants. These observations point to a functional partitioning of AT(1) receptor signals that permits separation of short-term AngII actions (e.g., vasoconstriction) from more extended events, such as pathological cell growth in heart and blood vessels, and may open up new avenues for selective antagonism.