**Acknowledgement**

This study was supported by the Subprogram of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Gene Pools and Gene Diversity," State Contract no. 14.740.11.0164 in the framework of the Federal Target Program "Science and Education Professionals of Innovative Russia," and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 12-04-92214 Mong\_a).

#### **5. References**


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**Chapter 4** 

© 2013 Méndez et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

**Prolactin in the Immune System** 

Lorenza Díaz, Mauricio Díaz-Muñoz, Leticia González, Saúl Lira-Albarrán, Fernando Larrea and Isabel Méndez

Prolactin (PRL) is a protein hormone, as well as a cytokine, which is synthesized and secreted from specialized cells of the anterior pituitary gland, named lactotrophs. More than 300 functions exerted by PRL in vertebrates have been recognized; and they reflect the ubiquitous distribution of its receptors, as well as the fact that PRL is synthesized in many extrapituitary tissues. Among these sites of PRL synthesis are cells of the immune system, such as macrophages, natural killer cells, and T- and B-lymphocytes. Regulation of PRL synthesis is organ specific, which confers additional complexity to the spectrum of PRL actions. In the physiology of the immune system, PRL acts by stimulating the secretion of other cytokines and the expression of cytokine receptors, and also as a growth and survival factor. In pathological conditions, increased levels of PRL could cause deterioration of the subject's condition. In this review, we integrate the information on regulation of PRL synthesis with that concerning its physiological and pathological actions in extrapituitary

**2. Regulation of prolactin expression and secretion in the pituitary and at** 

PRL was originally identified as a neuroendocrine hormone of pituitary origin; however, its synthesis is not limited to the hypophysis since numerous extrapituitary tissues also express this protein, including the placenta, ovary, testis, mammary gland, skin, adipose tissue, endothelial cells, and immune cells [1]. This wide-spread PRL expression might explain its involvement in very different processes such as reproduction, metabolism, immunology,

PRL expression and secretion are regulated by different stimuli provided by the environment and the internal milieu. Although pituitary PRL secretion is under a tonic and

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

tissues, highlighting those in the immune system.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53538

**1. Introduction** 

**extrapituitary sites** 

and behavior.
