Sweet rescue or surrender of the failing heart?

Abstract

Natriuretic peptides (NPs) are hormones involved in maintaining heart health that undergo proteolytic cleavage to become activated. Previous work has shown that O-GalNAc glycans affect their processing and activation. Here, Goetze, Schjoldager, and colleagues now provide comprehensive characterization of O-glycosylation of NPs, revealing that all members of the NP family can be modified by O-GalNAc glycans. Intriguingly, the study discovers glycans in the receptor- binding region of the A-type natriuretic peptide (ANP), demonstrating that they affect both stability and activity of ANP. These results may inform future therapeutic approaches for heart failure using peptide glycoforms.