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Blood pressure maintenance is vital for systemic homeostasis, and angiotensin II is a critical regulator. The upstream mechanisms that regulate angiotensin II are not completely understood. Here, we show that angiotensin II is regulated by ERp44, a factor involved in disulfide bond formation in the ER. In mice, genetic loss of ERp44 destabilizes angiotensin II and causes hypotension. We show that ERp44 forms a mixed disulfide bond with ERAP1, an aminopeptidase that cleaves angiotensin II. ERp44 controls the release of ERAP1 in a redox-dependent manner to control blood pressure. Additionally, we found that systemic inflammation triggers ERAP1 retention in the ER to inhibit hypotension. These findings suggest that the ER redox state calibrates serum angiotensin II levels via regulation of the ERp44-ERAP1 complex. Our results reveal a link between ER function and normotension and implicate the ER redox state as a potential risk factor in the development of cardiovascular disease., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) or calcium release-activated calcium current (I(CRAC)) is a critical pathway to replenish intracellular calcium stores, and plays indispensable roles in cellular functions such as antigen-induced T lymphocyte activation. Despite the importance of I(CRAC) in cellular functions, lack of potent and specific inhibitor has limited the approaches to the function of I(CRAC) in native cells. 2-Aminoethyl diphenylborinate (2-APB) is a widely used SOCE/I(CRAC) inhibitor, while its effect is rather unspecific. In the attempt to develop more potent and selective compounds here we identified two structurally isomeric 2-APB analogues that are 100-fold more potent than 2-APB itself. One of the 2-APB analogues activates and inhibits endogenous SOCE depending on the concentration while the other only inhibits it. The 2-APB analogue inhibits store depletion-mediated STIM1 clustering as well as heterologously expressed CRAC current. Together with the observation that, unlike 2-APB, the analogue compounds failed to activate CRACM3/Orai3 current in the absence of STIM, our results suggest that inhibition and activation of SOCE/I(CRAC) by the 2-APB analogues is mediated by STIM., (2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)