Definition
Activins are dimeric glycoproteins acting as a hormone and growth factor in various organs and systems. They are closely related to inhibin, being dimers of two β-chains of this latter protein and induce the secretion of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), which is inhibited by inhibin.
Features
Activins were isolated and characterized independently by two different groups, one isolating them from follicular fluid as a stimulator for follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) secretion in 1986 (Ling et al. 1986), and the other extracting them from a human monocytic cell line (THP-1 cell) as a differentiation factor for erythroleukemic cells in 1987 (Eto et al. 1987). They belong to the superfamily of tumor growth factor (TGF) β and are composed by the dimerization of two glycoproteic chains via a disulfide bridge. β-chains may be of five different types (A, B, C, D, E), recapitulating the β-chains of inhibin (which is a dimer composed by an α- and a β-chain). Activins are named...
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References and Further Reading
Bloise, E., Ciarmela, P., Dela Cruz, C., Luisi, S., Petraglia, F., & Reis, F. M. (2019). Activin A in mammalian physiology. Physiological Reviews, 99, 739–780.
Eto, Y., Tsuji, T., Takezawa, M., et al. (1987). Purification and characterization of erythroid differentiation factor (EDF) isolated from human leukemia cell line THP-1. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 142, 1095–1103.
La Rosa, S., Uccella, S., Billo, P., Facco, C., Sessa, F., & Capella, C. (1999). Immunohistochemical localization of alpha- and betaA-subunits of inhibin/activin in human normal endocrine cells and related tumors of the digestive system. Virchows Archiv, 434, 29–36.
La Rosa, S., Uccella, S., Marchet, S., Capella, C., & Lloyd, R. V. (2004). Localization of inhibins and activins in normal endocrine cells and endocrine tumors of the gut and pancreas: An immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization study. The Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, 52, 217–225.
Ling, N., Ying, S. Y., Ueno, N., et al. (1986). Pituitary FSH is released by a heterodimer of the beta-subunits from the two forms of inhibin. Nature, 321, 779–782.
Link, A. S., Zheng, F., & Alzheimer, C. (2016). Activin signaling in the pathogenesis and therapy of neuropsychiatric diseases. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, 9, 32.
Ries, A., Schelch, K., Falch, D., Pany, L., Hoda, MA., Grusch, M. (2020). Activin A: an emerging target for improving cancer treatment? Expert Opin Ther Targets. 24(10), 985–996. https://doi.org/10.1080/14728222.2020.1799350. [Epub 2020 Aug 6.]
Uccella, S., La Rosa, S., Genasetti, A., & Capella, C. (2000). Localization of inhibin/activin subunits in normal pituitary and in pituitary adenomas. Pituitary, 3, 131–139.
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Uccella, S. (2022). Activin. In: van Krieken, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pathology. Encyclopedia of Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5297-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28845-1_5297-1
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