title: 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.affiliation: Emeritus Professor School of Biological SciencesUniversity of Reading, Reading, UK p.j.lowry@reading.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lowry
mesh_terms: D000182:ACTH Syndrome, Ectopic / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000378:metabolism; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D053497:Corticotropin-Like Intermediate Lobe Peptide / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D047748:Pituitary ACTH Hypersecretion / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism; D011333:Pro-Opiomelanocortin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000266:history / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D020033:Protein Isoforms; D000521:alpha-MSH / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001615:beta-Endorphin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D020033:Protein Isoforms; D053497:Corticotropin-Like Intermediate Lobe Peptide; D000521:alpha-MSH; D001615:beta-Endorphin; D011333:Pro-Opiomelanocortin; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones
keywords: ACTH; LPH; MSH; POMC; adrenal