Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Family: A Stress Hormone-Receptor System's Emerging Role in Mediating Sex-Specific Signaling.

ABSTRACT: No organ in the body is impervious to the effects of stress, and a coordinated response from all organs is essential to deal with stressors. A dysregulated stress response that fails to bring systems back to homeostasis leads to compromised function and ultimately a diseased state. The components of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family, an ancient and evolutionarily conserved stress hormone-receptor system, helps both initiate stress responses and bring systems back to homeostasis once the stressors are removed. The mammalian CRF family comprises of four known agonists, CRF and urocortins (UCN1-3), and two known G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), CRF1 and CRF2. Evolutionarily, precursors of CRF- and urocortin-like peptides and their receptors were involved in osmoregulation/di

SUBMITTER: Vuppaladhadiam L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7226788 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature