HighWire Medline Abstract

define: gonadotropin - hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland and placenta; stimulates the gonads and controls reproductive activity

Harvard Reproductive Endocrine Sciences Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

Isolated gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) deficiency is a treatable albeit rare form of reproductive failure that has revealed physiological mechanisms controlling human reproduction, but despite substantial progress in discovering pathogenic single-gene defects, most of the genetic basis of GnRH deficiency remains uncharted. Although unbiased genetic investigations of affected families have identified mutations in previously unsuspected genes as causes of this disease in some cases, their application has been severely limited because of the negative effect of GnRH deficiency on fertility; moreover, relatively few of the many candidate genes nominated because of biological plausibility from in vitro or animal model experiments were subsequently validated in patients. With the advent of exciting technological platforms for sequencing, homozygosity mapping, and detection of structural variation at the whole-genome level, human investigations are again assuming the leading role for gene discovery. Using human GnRH deficiency as a paradigm and presenting original data from the screening of numerous candidate genes, we discuss the emerging model of patient-focused clinical genetic research and its complementarities with basic approaches in the near future.

Oncogene - Abstract (technical): Cadherin switching and activation of p120 catenin signaling are mediators of gonadotropin-releasing hormone to promote tumor cell migration and invasion in ovarian cancer

Definition: Cadherins - (Calcium dependant adhesion molecules) are a class of type-1 transmembrane proteins. They play important roles in cell adhesion.
Definition: Gonadotropin - hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland and placenta; stimulates the gonads and controls reproductive activity. A hormone that stimulates the ovaries (such as to produce estrogen).

"These results identify for the first time cadherin switching and p120ctn signaling as important targets of GnRH function and as novel mediators of invasiveness and tumor progression in ovarian cancer."