60 YEARS OF POMC: Purification and biological characterisation of melanotrophins and corticotrophins.

Abstract

The remarkable conservation of the primary structures and anatomical location of dogfish α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), corticotrophin-like intermediate lobe peptide (CLIP) and adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) compared with mammals reinforced the tissue-specific processing hypothesis of ACTH peptides in the pituitary gland. The cloning of dogfish pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) led to the identification of δ-MSH and simultaneously revealed the high conservation of the γ-MSH sequence during evolution. These studies have also shown that β-MSH is much less conserved during evolution and in some species is not even processed from β-LPH. Human pro-γ-MSH potentiates the corticosteroidogenic activity of ACTH and peptides generated from its N-terminal, in particular big-γ-MSH, appear to have adrenal mitogenic activity. Human big-γ-MSH (from the zona intermedia) may also cause the adrenache. The review finishes with a cautionary note with regard to the misdiagnosis of the ectopic ACTH syndrome in which partial processing of ACTH can result in large concentrations of α-MSH and CLIP, which can interfere in the performance of two-site immunoassays, and the problem of the correct disulphide bridge arrangement in synthetic N-POMC peptides is also discussed.

• Authors: Philip Lowry
• Journal: Journal of molecular endocrinology (J Mol Endocrinol) Vol. 56 Issue 4 Pg. T1-T12 (05 2016) ISSN: 1479-6813 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 26643914 (Publication Type: Historical Article, Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: © 2016 Society for Endocrinology.

Chemical References

• Protein Isoforms
• Corticotropin-Like Intermediate Lobe Peptide
• alpha-MSH
• beta-Endorphin
• Pro-Opiomelanocortin
• Adrenocorticotropic Hormone
• Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones

Topics

• ACTH Syndrome, Ectopic (blood, metabolism)
• Adrenal Glands (metabolism)
• Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (blood, chemistry, genetics, isolation & purification)
• Animals
• Corticotropin-Like Intermediate Lobe Peptide (chemistry, genetics, isolation & purification)
• History, 20th Century
• Humans
• Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones (blood, chemistry, genetics, isolation & purification)
• Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion (blood, metabolism)
• Pituitary Gland (metabolism)
• Pro-Opiomelanocortin (chemistry, genetics, history, isolation & purification)
• Protein Isoforms
• alpha-MSH (chemistry, genetics, isolation & purification)
• beta-Endorphin (chemistry, genetics, isolation & purification)