Back Melanokortin BS Melanocortina Catalan Melanocortina Spanish Melanocortina Galician Melanokortin ID Меланокортин Macedonian Melanocortina Portuguese Melanokortin Serbo-Croatian Melanokortin Serbian 黑素皮质素 Chinese
The melanocortins are a family of neuropeptide hormones which are the ligands of the melanocortin receptors.[1] The melanocortin system consists of melanocortin receptors, ligands, and accessory proteins. The genes of the melanocortin system are found in chordates.[2] Melanocortins were originally named so because their earliest known function was in melanogenesis. It is now known that the melanocortin system regulates diverse functions throughout the body, including inflammatory response, fibrosis, melanogenesis, steroidogenesis, energy homeostasis, sexual function, and exocrine gland function.[3][4][1]
There are four endogenous melanocortin agonists which are derived from post-transcriptional processing of the precursor molecule proopiomelanocortin (POMC) (Figure 1).[5] They are Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), a-melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH), b-MSH, and g-MSH. In addition to agonists which activate melanocortin receptors , there are two antagonists which inhibit receptor activity, Agouti and Agouti-related protein (Agrp). Lastly, the ligand β-defensin 3 acts as a neutral melanocortin receptor antagonist.[6]
- ^ a b Ericson, M.D., et al., Bench-top to clinical therapies: A review of melanocortin ligands from 1954 to 2016. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis, 2017. 1863(10 Pt A): p. 2414-2435.
- ^ Cortes, R., et al., Evolution of the melanocortin system. Gen Comp Endocrinol, 2014. 209: p. 3-10.
- ^ Chen, W., et al., Exocrine gland dysfunction in MC5-R-deficient mice: evidence for coordinated regulation of exocrine gland function by melanocortin peptides. Cell, 1997. 91(6): p. 789-98.
- ^ Wang, W., et al., Melanocortin Regulation of Inflammation. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne), 2019. 10: p. 683.
- ^ Arnason, B.G., et al., Mechanisms of action of adrenocorticotropic hormone and other melanocortins relevant to the clinical management of patients with multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler, 2013. 19(2): p. 130-6.
- ^ Nix, M.A., et al., Molecular and functional analysis of human beta-defensin 3 action at melanocortin receptors. Chem Biol, 2013. 20(6): p. 784-95.