FOLLICLE-STIMULATING-HORMONE AND ITS RECEPTOR - FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

In this report, we review our present effort in the field of molecular reproductive endocrinology: to identify a small molecular weight foll icle stimulating hormone (FSH) agonistic molecule. To achieve this goa l we require a number of molecular tools, We have cloned and expressed the human gonadotrophin, FSH and the human FSH receptor and developed a reliable high throughput assay. We have also proposed a model to ex plain FSH receptor activation and from that model, begun to create sma ll molecules predicted to induce FSH signal transduction without bindi ng to the extracellular domain of the membrane protein, In this report , we summarize our efforts to date and discuss our future research eff orts in this area.