Chapter category: Endocrine

Relaxin, the Relaxin-Like Factor and Their Receptors

This chapter appears in the following book:

Relaxin and Related Peptides

Edited by: Alexander I. Agoulnik
ISBN: 978-0-387-74670-8
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Christian Schwabe and Erika E. Büllesbach

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In 1926 Frederick Hisaw discovered a blood‑borne factor in pregnant guinea pigs that would cause relaxation of the pubic symphysis in virgin females of the species.1The relaxin‑like factor gene (RLF), also known as insulin‑like 3 (INSL3), was recovered from a library of testicular cDNA.2 The function of RLF as the mediator of testicular positioning in mice was discovered by gene deletion experiments.3,4 The report that deletion of a G‑protein‑coupled receptor in a mouse mutant caused cryptorchidism5 and that relaxin and RLF and their receptors6,7 were structurally and functionally similar may well have inspired Drs. Hsueh and Sherwood to put LGR7 and relaxin together and thus, after many agonizing years of uncertainty, the relaxin receptor had yielded its identity.8 LGR8 was recognized as the human version of the RLF receptor and together LGR7 and LGR8, with their respective ligands, opened to detailed investigation the large and important field of G‑protein activated leucine‑rich repeat receptors. In the process RLF and LGR8 have yielded some general information that might contribute to our knowledge of receptor/ligand interaction, in particular the enigmatic signal initiation process.

Christian Schwabe
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina

Erika E. Büllesbach
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina

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Additional chapters from this book:

Relaxin, the Relaxin-Like Factor and Their Receptors

Christian Schwabe and Erika E. Büllesbach

In 1926 Frederick Hisaw discovered a blood‑borne factor in pregnant guinea pigs that would cause relaxation of the pubic symphysis in virgin females of the species.1The relaxin‑like factor...

Relaxin-Family Peptide and Receptor Systems in Brain Insights from Recent Anatomical and Functional Studies

Sherie Ma and Andrew L. Gundlach

Relaxin was for many years considered primarily a hormone active within the reproductive tract with overwhelming evidence for its important roles in mammalian parturition. More\\r\\n R...

The Effects of Relaxin on Extracellular Matrix Remodeling in Health and Fibrotic Disease

Chrishan S. Samuel, Edna D. Lekgabe and Ishanee Mookerjee

Since its discovery as a reproductive hormone 80 years ago, relaxin has been implicated in a number of pregnancy‑related functions involving extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover and collagen degr...

Diverse Signalling Mechanisms Used by Relaxin in Natural Cells and Tissues: The Evolution of a “Neohormone”

Richard Ivell, Kee Heng and Ravinder Anand-Ivell

The small peptide hormone relaxin is a member of a rapidly evolving family of hormones and growth factors, whose mode of action appears to be particularly adapted to purely mammalian physiology. It is...

Relaxin and Related Peptides in Male Reproduction

Alexander I. Agoulnik

The relaxin hormone is renowned for its function in pregnancy, parturition and other aspects of female reproduction. At the same time, the role of relaxin in male reproduction is still debated. Relaxi...

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Tracey N. Wilkinson and Ross A.D. Bathgate

The relaxin peptide family in humans consists of relaxin‑1, 2 and 3 and the insulin‑like peptides (INSL)‑3, 4, 5 and 6. The evolution of this family has been controversial; points of...

Relaxin Physiology in the Female Reproductive Tract during Pregnancy

Laura J. Parry and Lenka A. Vodstrcil

The characteristic functions of relaxin are associated with female reproductive tract physiology. These include the regulation of biochemical processes involved in remodeling the extracellular matrix ...

The Vascular Actions of Relaxin

Arundhathi Jeyabalan, Sanjeev G. Shroff, Jaqueline Novak and Kirk P. Conrad

Relaxin is emerging as a hormone with important vascular actions. Much of our recently gained knowledge of relaxin in this context has stemmed from investigations of maternal vascular adaptations to p...

Relaxin-Like Ligand-Receptor Systems Are Autocrine/Paracrine Effectors in Tumor Cells and Modulate Cancer Progression and Tissue Invasiveness

Thomas Klonisch, Joanna Bialek, Yvonne Radestock, Cuong Hoang-Vu and Sabine Hombach-Klonisch

Relaxin and INSL3 are novel autocrine/paracrine insulin‑like hormones in tumor biology. Both effectors can bind to and activate the leucine‑rich G‑protein coupled receptors LGR7 (rel...

Chapter category: Endocrine

Relaxin, the Relaxin-Like Factor and Their Receptors

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