A novel insulin-regulated ghrelin transcript

Ghrelin has emerged as a multifunctional peptide hormone with actions beyond its roles in GH secretion, appetite regulation and energy balance. It is now thought to play a role in prostate cancer progression, and Seim et al. have previously demonstrated that ghrelin mRNA and protein is expressed in prostate cancer cell lines and tissues and that ghrelin stimulates cell proliferation in prostate cancer cell lines.

In this study, they report a novel preproghrelin splice variant termed in2c-ghrelin that contains a novel exon sequence derived from intron 2 of the ghrelin gene and investigated its expression in cancer. They demonstrate that this novel transcript, as well as the recently described in1-ghrelin transcript is upregulated in response to insulin treatment in the 22Rv1 and lymph node carcinoma of the prostate prostate cancer cell lines and, therefore, they may have a role in prostate cancer progression, particularly in cases of hyperinsulinaemia.

This study is the first description of insulin regulation of a ghrelin transcript in cancer and should provide further impetus for studies into the expression, regulation and function of ghrelin gene products.

Read full article at Seim et al. (2013) Journal of Molecular Endocrinology 50 179-191 DOI: 10.1530/JME-12-0150.