insulin-like 3 (Leydig insulin-like peptide, Ley-I-L, relaxin-like factor, [contains: insulin-like 3 B chain; insulin-like 3 A chain], INSL3, RLF, RLNL)

Function

• role in testicular function
• trophic hormone with a role in testicular descent in fetal life (putative)
• ligand for LGR8 receptor

Structure

• belongs to the insulin family
• heterodimer of B chain & A chain linked by 2 disulfide bonds

Compartment

secreted

Expression

• expressed in prenatal & postnatal Leydig cells
• expressed in corpus luteum, trophoblast, fetal membranes & breast

Pathology

• defects in INSL3 seems to be a cause of cryptorchidism frequency of INSL3 gene mutations as a cause of cryptorchidism is low

More general terms

• secreted protein

Database

• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/146738
• OMIM: https://mirror.omim.org/entry/219050
• UniProt: http://www.uniprot.org/uniprot/P51460.html