Hormones have traditionally been classified by their mode of biosynthetic origin. We postulate a mode of hormone biosynthesis that leads to a new subclass of protein hormones. Members of this class are derived from a cleavage event that also generates a much larger, functionally unrelated, nonhormonal protein. Here, we examine four representative members of this group: endostatin, endotrophin, asprosin, and placensin. We have named this subclass of protein hormones caudamins, from the Latin word cauda meaning ‘tail’. These four caudamins have shown promise in understanding and treating diseases like metabolic syndrome and cancer. Identification of the rest of the caudamins will likely provide a plethora of drug targets for a variety of diseases.

传统上，激素根据其生物合成来源的模式进行分类。我们假设了一种激素生物合成模式，该模式导致了一种新的蛋白质激素亚类。该类别的成员源自裂解事件，该事件还会产生更大的、功能上无关的非激素蛋白质。在这里，我们检查了该组的四个代表性成员：内皮抑素、内养蛋白、白色脂肪肽和胎盘素。我们将这种蛋白质激素亚类命名为 caudamins，来自拉丁词cauda ，意思是“尾巴”。这四种 caudamins 在理解和治疗代谢综合征和癌症等疾病方面显示出希望。鉴定其余的 caudamins 可能会为多种疾病提供过多的药物靶标。