Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41770769›Full record

ArticlePloS one2026

Detecting the body's reproductive hormonal brake against tissue overgrowth: Micrin/SgII-70.

John E Hart, Keith G Davies, Christopher R Mundy, Aurelia C Hart, David R Howlett, Russell P Newton

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

John E HartEndocrine Pharmaceuticals, Tadley, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
Keith G DaviesSchool of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, United Kingdom.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6060-2394
Christopher R MundyEndocrine Pharmaceuticals, Tadley, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
Aurelia C HartEndocrine Pharmaceuticals, Tadley, Hampshire, United Kingdom.
David R HowlettWolfson SPaRC (Sensory, Pain and Regeneration Centre), King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Russell P NewtonBiochemistry Group, Institute of Life Sciences, Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A new humoral factor has been detected, within a project aiming to disclose the body's reproductive hormonal brake against tissue overgrowth, micrin ('my-crin'). Factor purification involved fractionation of ovine and bovine ovarian follicular fluid and blood plasma and serum, with evaluation via rat bioassays in vivo and in vitro. Analysis averse, the molecular effector provided a chemical conundrum. Evidence from mass spectrometry (MS) is problematic, with spectra from MALDI-TOF, the only productive MS modality, confused by a target polypeptide exhibiting artefacts during processing, storage and MALDI set-up in terms of C-terminal truncation and water losses, along with dimerization (C-terminally truncated fragments doubled up). Evidence from chemical sequencing of amino acid (aa) residues is likewise confusing, but consistent with a spiralised depolymerisation within the Edman reaction chamber of a unitary polypeptide. Data decryption has overcome molecular intractability, supported by the results of tryptic digestion and epitope mapping using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The detected inhibitory factor relates to secretogranin II (SgII), the neurosecretory prohormone, in the form of a secreted acidic 70-aa polypeptide derivative called here SgII-70 ('sig two seventy'). The product of peptide splicing, micrin/SgII-70 is a twisted amphipathic molecule, with ends entwined (via salt bridging), the complex knotted structure confounding Edman and MALDI analyses, as well as computational molecular modelling, whilst conferring protease and heat resistance. Hexapeptide mimetics simulating both ends of the hormone together have been demonstrated in different species and settings in antiorganotrophism (tissue reduction via fewer, smaller cells) and reproductive modulation (more offspring). There are potential clinical applications for agonists in tissue overgrowth conditions such as endometriosis, PCOS, BPH and cancer, and for micrin antagonists in infertility.

Indexed as

ReproductionSecretogranin IIAmino Acid SequenceAnimalsCattleFemaleMolecular Sequence DataRatsSpectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-IonizationSecretogranin II

Identifiers

PMID41770769
PMCPMC12952585

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.