Endocrine Abstracts

An archetypal view of GPCR signalling depicts cell surface localized receptors activating specific heterotrimeric G-protein signal pathways, which in turn converge on to common downstream pathways. How such signals are translated into the highly diverse cellular and physiological responses that are controlled by this superfamily of receptors has been a long-standing biological question. This question has driven our more current understanding of the complexity of these receptor...

Glycoprotein hormone receptors (GPHRs) have been cloned about 25 years ago and, since then, the glycoprotein hormones TSH, LH/hCG and FSH are considered as the agonists for their respective receptors. Additionally to TSH, the TSH receptor for example, can be activated by mutations and autoantibodies causing hyperthyroidism and Graves’ disease, respectively. The mode, how the receptors integrate the activating actions of glycoprotein hormones, mutations and autoantibodies ...

G protein-coupled receptors play key roles in cell-cell communication processes, and, not surprisingly, are the main targets for therapeutic drugs. Among these, those of the class C are the receptors for neurotransmitters, glutamate and GABA (mGlu and GABABRs), for the umami and sweet taste compounds (T1Rs), and for calcium and basic amino acids (CaSR and GPRC6a). Class C GPCRs are much more complex proteins than the class A and B GPCRs. They are made of two subunit...