Skip to main content

Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein

Meaning

Parathyroid Hormone-Related Protein (PTHrP) is a naturally occurring peptide that shares significant structural homology with parathyroid hormone (PTH) and binds to the same PTH/PTHrP receptor (PTH1R) in bone and kidney tissue. Physiologically, PTHrP is crucial for fetal development, particularly bone and tooth formation, and is expressed in numerous adult tissues where it acts locally in a paracrine fashion to regulate smooth muscle relaxation and calcium transport. Clinically, it is primarily known as the causative agent for the syndrome of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM) when secreted ectopically by certain tumors.