The expression of GnRH (GnRH-I, LHRH) and its receptor as a part of an autocrine regulatory system of cell proliferation has been demonstrated in a number of human malignant tumors, including cancers of the ovary. The proliferation of human ovarian cancer cell lines is time- and dose-dependently reduced by GnRH and its superagonistic analogs. The classical GnRH receptor signal-transduction mech...

Neuropeptides such as gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) are presumed to play an important role in the regulation of the function and growth of human placenta. Knowledge about the placental site of GnRH expression and the eventual co-localization of its peptide with the GnRH receptor (GnRH-R) is crucial for a better understanding of possible autocrine/paracrine mechanisms. We therefore inve...

BACKGROUND GnRH-II has been shown to exert a strong antiproliferative action on tumors of the female reproductive system. The data so far reported on the effects of GnRH-II on prostate cancer growth are controversial. Moreover, it is still unclear through which receptor [type I or type II GnRH-receptor (GnRH-R)] GnRH-II might modulate cancer cell proliferation. OBJECTIVE The objective of this...

The hypothalamic decapeptide gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) binds to high affinity receptors on pituitary gonadotrophs. These receptors mediate the effects of GnRH on secretion and synthesis of gonadotrophins. The GnRH receptor is coupled to Gq/G11, which activates phospholipase C. This enzyme leads to the generation of several second messenger molecules. Among these, diacylglycerol (DG...

Existing research on the role of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in bivalve reproduction is inadequate, even though a few bivalve GnRH orthologs have been cloned. The objective of this paper was to elucidate the in vivo effect of GnRH administration in Yesso scallop reproduction. We performed in vivo administration of scallop GnRH (py-GnRH) synthetic peptide into the developing gonad, and...

Hypothalamic GnRH neurons are essential for initiation and regulation of reproductive function. In addition to pituitary gonadotrope stimulation, activity of GnRH through its receptor (GnRHR) has been suggested to include autocrine regulation of the GnRH neuron. Two hypogonadal mouse strains, the Gnrh1 mutant (hpg) mice and Gnrhr mutant mice were used to investigate the potential role of GnRH s...

Epithelial ovarian cancer, which accounts for 80-90% of all ovarian cancers, is the most common cause of death from gynecological malignancies and is believed to originate from the ovarian surface epithelium. In the present study we investigated the expression of GnRH and its receptor in human ovarian surface epithelial (hOSE) cells and provided novel evidence that GnRH may have antiproliferati...

Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH) is a small neuropeptide that regulates pituitary release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). These gonadotropins are essential for the regulation of reproductive function. The GnRH-containing neurons are distributed diffusely throughout the hypothalamus and project to the median eminence where they release GnRH from their axo...

Cultured rat pituitary cells and immortalized pituitary gonadotrophs (alphaT3-1 cells) express specific messenger RNA transcripts for GnRH and exhibit positive immunostaining for the GnRH peptide. Each cell type released GnRH during both static culture and perifusion, albeit in lesser amounts than cultured hypothalamic cells and GT1-7 neurons. In perifused pituitary cells, exposure to a GnRH ag...

In our previous studies, we demonstrated that ERK1/2 (extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase) and p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) are required for gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH)-II-induced anti-proliferation of ovarian cancer cells. In the present study, we examined the role of the GnRH-I receptor, as well as the activation of protein kinase C (PKC), in the anti-prolif...