Links between cardiovascular disease and prolactin have already been reported. Reuwer and colleagues sought to investigate the role of prolactin and its receptor in the inflammatory response in carotid atherosclerotic plaques. Using human atherosclerotic plaques they used quantitative real-time PCR to reveal that the plaques contained mRNA of the prolactin receptor but not the ligand. In situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry were used to assess the localisation of the prolactin receptor, finding it to be most abundant in the shoulder regions of plaques and in macrophages found in the plaques, which Reuwer and colleagues postulated may aggravate local inflammation. Thus, prolactin may be able to modulate the atherosclerotic process, though the ways in which it does so need to be further explored. Reuwer et al. (2011) Journal of Endocrinology 208 107–117.

Read the full article at DOI: 10.1677/JOE-10-0076.