Lipocortin 1: a second messenger of glucocorticoid action in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis

The secretion of hydrocortisone by the adrenal cortex is crucial in balancing the reaction of the body to injury or stress. In the periphery, hydrocortisone inhibits inflammation, downregulates the immune system and produces many other crucial physiological and metabolic changes. Within the neuroendocrine system, hydrocortisone inhibits the release of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (and other pituitary hormones), thereby governing its own secretion. The manifold actions of hydrocortisone are mediated through induction or repression of many genes but one pathway, mediated by the inducible protein lipocortin 1 (LC-1, also known as annexin 1), mediates several important effects both within the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis itself and in the periphery.