This family consists of several mammalian proSAAS precursor proteins. ProSAAS mRNA is expressed primarily in brain and other neuroendocrine tissues (pituitary, adrenal, pancreas); within brain, the mRNA is broadly distributed among neurons. ProSAAS is thought to be an endogenous inhibitor of prohormone convertase 1 [1] may function as a neuropeptide [2]. N-terminal fragments of proSAAS in intracellular Pick Bodies (PBs) may cause a functional disturbance of neurons in Pick's disease [3].

1: Identification and characterization of proSAAS, a granin-like neuroendocrine peptide precursor that inhibits prohormone processing. Fricker LD, McKinzie AA, Sun J, Curran E, Qian Y, Yan L, Patterson SD, Courchesne PL, Richards B, Levin N, Mzhavia N, Devi LA, Douglass J; J Neurosci 2000;20:639-648. PMID:10632593

2: Processing of proSAAS in neuroendocrine cell lines. Mzhavia N, Qian Y, Feng Y, Che FY, Devi LA, Fricker LD; Biochem J 2002;361:67-76. PMID:11742530

3: An N-terminal fragment of ProSAAS (a granin-like neuroendocrine peptide precursor) is associated with tau inclusions in Pick's disease. Kikuchi K, Arawaka S, Koyama S, Kimura H, Ren CH, Wada M, Kawanami T, Kurita K, Daimon M, Kawakatsu S, Kadoya T, Goto K, Kato T; Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2003;308:646-654. PMID:12914799