Corticotropin Releasing Hormone Receptor 2 (CRHR2)

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a 41-amino acid peptide synthesized in the hypothalamus. It is the principal neuroregulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis and plays an important role in coordinating the endocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to stress and immune challenge. Liaw et al. (1996) stated that there are 2 G protein-coupled CRH receptors, CRHR1 and CRHR2, which they termed the CRF2 receptor. The investigators used clones of the rat CRF2 receptor to isolate the human gene from brain and kidney genomic DNA libraries. The gene consists of 12 exons spanning approximately 30 kb. The predicted protein, which is 411 amino acids in length and 70% identical to the CRF1 receptor, contains a putative N-terminal secretory signal sequence and 7 putative transmembrane domains.