Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Numerous studies have reported the role of the N-terminal of pro-opiomelanocortin (N-POMC1-76) and its smaller fragments; 1-28 and 1-49, in adrenal steroidogenesis and mitogenesis. A full understanding of this area will help to understand the pathophysiology of certain adrenal tumours but exactly how these peptides elicit this effect is unclear. We have recently identified an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) as a possible N-POMC receptor. Preliminary data s...