Copeptin as a surrogate marker for arginine vasopressin: analytical insights, current utility, and emerging applications

Copeptin is a 39-amino-acid long glycosylated peptide with a leucine-rich core segment in the C-terminal part of pre-pro-vasopressin. It exhibits a rapid response comparable to arginine vasopressin (AVP) in response to osmotic, hemodynamic, and nonspecific stress-related stimuli. This similarity can be attributed to equimolar production of copeptin alongside AVP. However, there are markedly different decay kinetics for both peptides, with an estimated initial half-life of copeptin being approximately two times longer than that of AVP. Like AVP, copeptin correlates strongly over a wide osmolality range in healthy individuals, making it a useful alternative to AVP measurement. While copeptin does not appear to be significantly affected by food intake, small amounts of oral fluid intake may result in a significant decrease in copeptin levels. Compared to AVP, copeptin is considerably more stable