Anti-Mullerian Hormone Signal Transduction involved in Mullerian Duct Regression

Over seventy years ago it was proposed that the fetal testis produces a hormone distinct from testosterone that is required for complete male sexual development. At the time the hormone had not yet been identified but was invoked by Alfred Jost to explain why the Mullerian duct, which develops into the female reproductive tract, regresses in the male fetus. That hormone, anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH), and its specific receptor, AMHR2, have now been extensively characterized and belong to the transforming growth factor-beta families of protein ligands and receptors involved in growth and differentiation. Much is now known about the downstream events set in motion after AMH engages AMHR2 at the surface of specific Mullerian duct cells and initiates a cascade of molecular interactions that ultimately terminate in the nucleus as activated transcription factors. The signals generated by the AMH signaling pathway are then integrated with signals coming from other pathways and culminate in a complex gene regulatory program that redirects cellular functions and fates and leads to Mullerian duct regression.

Automated summary

This passage discusses the research on a new hormone related to male sexual development seventy years ago, AMH and AMHR2, and their roles in the regression of the Mullerian duct.