56:4 N X CAWLEY and others Biosynthesis of POMC-derived 56:4 T77–T97 Thematic Review peptides 60 YEARS OF POMC Biosynthesis, trafficking, and secretion of pro-opiomelanocortin-derived peptides Correspondence should be addressed Niamh X Cawley, Zhaojin Li and Y Peng Loh to Y Peng Loh Section on Cellular Neurobiology, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Email Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
[email protected] Abstract Pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) is a prohormone that encodes multiple smaller peptide Key Words hormones within its structure. These peptide hormones can be generated by cleavage f hypothalamus- of POMC at basic residue cleavage sites by prohormone-converting enzymes in the pituitary-adrenal axis regulated secretory pathway (RSP) of POMC-synthesizing endocrine cells and neurons. f POMC sorting The peptides are stored inside the cells in dense-core secretory granules until released f POMC-derived peptide secretion in a stimulus-dependent manner. The complexity of the regulation of the biosynthesis, f vesicle trafficking trafficking, and secretion of POMC and its peptides reflects an impressive level of f prohormone control over many factors involved in the ultimate role of POMC-expressing cells, that processing enzymes is, to produce a range of different biologically active peptide hormones ready for action when signaled by the body. From the discovery of POMC as the precursor to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and β-lipotropin in the late 1970s to our current Journal of Molecular Endocrinology knowledge, the understanding of POMC physiology remains a monumental body of work that has provided insight into many aspects of molecular endocrinology.