Peptide directorySkin, immune & repair

Amphiregulin

A growth factor of repair that also tells regulatory T cells to calm a tissue.

Where it comes from

Made in
Epithelial cells, regulatory T cells, mast cells, type 2 innate lymphoid cells, ovarian granulosa cells
Sent out by
Shed by ADAM17 after injury; in the ovary, in a burst before ovulation
Acts on
  • Epithelium of lung, gut and skin
  • Fibroblasts
  • The oocyte’s surrounding cells

What it does

  • Restores lung and gut epithelium after infection or injury
  • Carries the LH surge’s message to the egg, triggering its final maturation
  • Drives fibrosis when prolonged

In medicine

  • A research marker in asthma, in ovarian follicular fluid and in several cancers
  • No medicine copies or blocks it; the EGFR blockers used in cancer sit on its receptor

Beyond the body’s own use

  • Added to IVF culture media in research to mature eggs, because it is the message the LH surge actually sends to the egg 2
  • Its other job is the surprising one: regulatory T cells make amphiregulin to repair tissue rather than to damp immunity, shown in mice recovering from influenza 3
  • Kept up too long it drives fibrosis, which is why blocking it is studied in lung disease; nothing is in a human trial

Sources

  1. Shoyab et al., Structure and function of human amphiregulin, Science 1989
  2. Park et al., EGF-like growth factors as mediators of LH action in the ovulatory follicle, Science 2004
  3. Arpaia et al., A distinct function of regulatory T cells in tissue protection, Cell 2015

This card describes what a medicine is for and what the evidence says; it recommends nothing. Talk to your clinician about anything you read here.