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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Vascul Pharmacol. 2015 Jun 27;72:1–8. doi: 10.1016/j.vph.2015.06.011

Figure 4. Why Soluble RAGEs?

Figure 4

Evidence suggests that sRAGE is produced by sheddases cleaving cell surface RAGE and that esRAGE is an alternatively spliced RAGE form. Our understanding of the mechanisms of regulation of production and clearance of these forms is relatively limited but, no doubt, holds the key to whether it is possible to harness the power of sRAGEs to sequester RAGE ligands, reduce the overall potential of ligand stimulated RAGE signaling (by disengaging the ligand binding forms of RAGE from the intracellular effectors) and/or divert cellular machinery away from generation of more full-length RAGE. At the same time or alternatively, measures of soluble RAGEs may be mirrors of the activation state of the receptor and, as such, may be amenable to tracking the status of inflammatory and metabolic diseases. More research is needed to uncover the purpose of soluble RAGEs.