Section Review Oncologic, Endocrine & Metabolic: The amylin, CGRP and calcitonin family of peptides

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Abstract
The calcitonins are a group of 32 amino acid, disulphide bridged, C-terminally amidated peptides, first isolated from the thyroid and characterised as hormones which regulate blood calcium levels. Observations on alternative splicing of mRNA derived from the calcitonin gene resulted in the identification of the potent vasodilator: calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a 37 amino acid, disulphide bridged peptide, again with a C-terminal amide. More recently a third type of peptide, amylin, has been isolated from pancreases of Type 2 diabetics. This also is a 37 amino acid residue, disulphide bridged C-terminally amidated peptide, and acts as a regulator of blood glucose levels in conjunction with insulin. Two other moiecules may also be somewhat related to these: adrenomedullin, which has weak structural homology with CGRP and amylin and shows vasodilatory properties, and maxadilan, which is structurally unrelated but resembles CGRP biologically. This review summarises recent progress on the characterisa...

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