2003 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 99-103
Many aspects of molecular mechanisms for the production of hormones have been clarified by recent, rapidly growing molecular technologies. The cloning of various transcription factors and the gene targeting technologies have contributed a great deal in studying the essential aspects of hormone production. Prohormone convertases (PCs) and the intracellular secretory mechanisms of the prohormones have been other inevitable issues in the proper function of the hormone secreting cells. In the field of pituitary research, transcription factors such as Pit-1, Ptx1, Prop-1, NeuroD1, GATA2, SF-1, and DAX-1, clarify three cell lineages in the functional development of the individual pituitary cells. In the human pituitary adenomas, occasionally their hormone production is 'aberrant', which causes overlap in the lineages. Molecular mechanisms have been proposed to be resulted from 'aberrant' combinations of the transcription factors by the gene transfection method. Histochemistry and cytochemistry are expected to play essential future roles in the research on the physiological and pathological aspects of hormone production.
