Regulation of luteinizing hormone/human chorionic gonadotropin receptor expression: A perspective

The LH/hCG receptor, a member of the G protein coupled receptor family mediates the cellular actions of LH in the ovary. A considerable amount of information regarding its structure, mechanism of activation, and regulation of expression has emerged in recent years. Here we provide a brief overview of the current information on the structural organization of the receptor and the mechanism of receptor mediated signaling as well as an in-depth discussion on recent developments pertaining to the regulation of receptor expression. Specifically, we describe studies from our laboratory showing that the posttranscriptional regulation of the receptor involves an LHACG receptor mRNA-binding protein. We also propose a model to explain the loss of steady-state LH/hCG receptor mRNA levels during receptor down-regulation.