Sometimes it's neither the hormones nor the genes

In addition to transcriptional and translational regulatory processes, targ eting of cellular proteins for proteosome-mediated degradation provides an important regulatory step by which cell function can be modulated. Now a ph ysicochemical factor, osmotic stress, has been shown to affect polyubiquiti nation of aquaporin-1. This model system suggests the need for endocrine st udies to consider non-genomic and non-receptor-mediated processes that alte r cell function in general and that might even contribute to the appearance and progression of disease.