Deciphering the role of the GPR101 orphan receptor in growth hormone hypersecretion

Growth hormone (GH) is a key modulator of growth and GH over-secretion can lead to gigantism. One form is X-linked acrogigantism (X-LAG), in which infants develop GH secreting pituitary tumors over-expressing the orphan G-protein coupled receptor, GPR101(Trivellin et al, 2014). The role of GPR101 in GH secretion remains obscure. We studied GPR101 signaling pathways and their effects in HEK293 and rat pituitary GH3 cell lines, human tumors and in transgenic mice with elevated somatotrope Gpr101 expression driven by the rat Ghrhr promoter (GhrhrGpr101). We reported that Gpr101 causes elevated GH/prolactin secretion in transgenic GhrhrGpr101 mice but without hyperplasia/tumorigenesis (Abboud et al, 2020). Furthermore, we showed that GPR101 constitutively activates not only Gs, but also Gq/11 and G12/13, which leads to GH secretion but not proliferation. These signatures of GPR101 signaling, notably PKC activation, are also present in human pituitary tumors with high GPR101 expression. These results underline a role for GPR101 in the regulation of somatotrope axis function.