Molecular biology of MIS and its receptors.

It is important, given the potential use of MIS as an anticancer agent against tumors of Müllerian duct origin, that the search continue to identify binding isoforms of the MIS type II receptor or to identify other factors in the heteromeric complex that might be required for specific binding of this ligand to be observed. With confidence in binding one can use receptor probes to screen patients with ovarian cancer and to identify those that express receptor. This subgroup can then be examined for binding of the MIS ligand and subsequently for antiproliferative response to MIS, in order to preselect candidate patients for receptor-directed MIS treatment. Thus, a once obscure phenomenon observed in the Freemartin has led to the purification and cloning of MIS and the identification of its receptor components, as well as an understanding of their regulation and expression. Elucidation of these molecular events brings us closer to the use of molecules such as MIS in the clinical setting.