Endocrine Abstracts

Purpose: Sepsis is hallmarked by high circulating glucocorticoids in face of low plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (1). At the hypothalamic-pituitary level, ongoing stress-induced corticotropin-releasing hormone- (CRH) and arginine vasopressin- (AVP) driven expression of the ACTH-precursor POMC coincides with impaired proprotein convertase 1 (PC1/3)-mediated processing into ACTH, with ultimately leaching of unprocessed POMC into the circulation (2). Despite uncertainty...