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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

In Vitro Imaging and Quantification of the Drug Targeting Efficiency of Fluorescently Labeled GnRH Analogues
Published on: March 21, 2017
Converting heterodimeric gonadotropins to genetically linked single chains: new approaches to structure activity
1Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
Abstract:
One of the distinguishing features of the gonadotropin and thyrotropin hormone family is their heterodimeric structure; the subunits combine early in the secretory pathway and only the dimers are capable of binding to receptors. Therefore, assembly is rate limiting in the production of functional heterodimers, a problem encountered when removing the carbohydrates from one or both subunits as discussed in this review. If the heterodimers can be expressed as single chains, this might avoid mutagenesis-induced defects in secretion and combination of individual subunits for structure-function studies and analogue design. Here we discuss the feasibility of this approach for such problems.
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