Epidermal growth factor and phorbol esters reduce the levels of the cognate mRNA for the LH/CG receptor.

The LH/CG receptor of MA-10 Leydig tumor cells can be down-regulated by LH/CG, mouse epidermal growth factor (mEGF), cAMP analogues and phorbol esters. In a recent publication we showed that the LH/CG-induced down regulation of the LH/CG receptor is primarily due to an increase in the rate of degradation of the receptor, and occurs with little or no change in the levels of LH/CG receptor mRNA. Although relatively unimportant for the LH/CG-induced down-regulation of the LH/CG receptor, we also found that LH/CG can in fact elicit a reduction in LH/CG receptor mRNA and that this reduction is mediated by cAMP. These findings raised the possibility that the ability of other compounds to down-regulate the LH/CG receptor may be accompanied by decreases in LH/CG receptor mRNA. In an attempt to answer this question, we examined the possibility that the mEGF- or phorbol ester-induced down regulation of the LH/CG receptor is due to changes in LH/CG receptor mRNA. The experiments presented herein show that this is indeed the case.