Novel sandwich ELISA for detecting the human soluble (pro)renin receptor

The (pro)renin receptor ((P)RR) plays a key role in the activation of the local renin-angiotensin system via interaction with renin and prorenin. A truncated form that is cleaved by furin, referred to as soluble (pro)renin receptor (s(P)RR), is secreted into the extracellular space. An accurate measurement of s(P)RR levels in vivo is an important issue in elucidating the roles of (P)RR in physiology and pathophysiology. To address this, we developed a sandwich ELISA that is applicable to human subjects. The standard curve of this ELISA showed a high linearity (125-8,000 pg/ml) with a correlation coefficient of >0.99. The recovery rate was approximately 90% in human blood and urine samples. The s(P)RR levels in plasma of healthy volunteers was in the range from 15.2 to 35.1 ng/ml (n = 20). Intra- and inter-assay coefficient of variations were less than 5.5% and 7.5%, respectively. It thus appears that this ELISA is a reliable tool for measuring s(P)RR levels in human subjects.