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Characterization of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptors on Human Pituitary Corticotroph Adenomas and Their Correlation With Endogenous Glucocorticoids^*

Laboratoine de Neuroendocrinologie Experimentale INSERM U 297, 13326 Marseille, France
Developmental Endocrinology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (A.N.M.) Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Address requests for reprints to: Michel Grino, M.D., Building 10, Room 10N262, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.

Specific receptors for CRH were identified in five freshly excised pituitary adenomas causing Cushing's disease. Their kinetic properties and mean affinity constant [1.45 ± 0.38 (±SE) nmol/L] were comparable to the characteristics of rat and monkey anterior pituitary CRH receptors. No correlation was found between the immediate preoperative plasma and urinary cortisol levels and the number of pituitary adenoma CRH receptors, which ranged from 6-96 fmol/mg protein, unlike in rats, in which corticosterone modulates the number of anterior pituitary CRH receptors. The lack of correlation between the concentration of CRH receptors and plasma cortisol levels may reflect the inability of glucocorticoids to down-regulate CRH receptors in these tumors. Thus, corticotroph adenomas are resistant not only to the feedback actions of glucocorticoids on proopiomelanocortin synthesis and secretion but also to their actions on CRH receptors

^* This work was supported by INSERM (CRE 834007) grants.

Received January 27, 1988.

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