The IRPS exists to make possible every other year the international regulatory peptide meeting called RegPep, of which RegPep2018 is the 22nd. A brief history: the first regulatory peptide discovered was secretin (by Starling and Bayliss, in 1902); the ‘prime regulatory peptide’ and the one of greatest current medical consequence, insulin, was discovered by Banting and Best in the early 1920’s. The sequence of the nine-amino acid-long hormone oxytocin, and the first laboratory synthesis, was accomplished in 1954 by du Vigneaud. Victor Mutt and others began the systematic identification of peptides of the gut in the 1960s, and established a method for detecting and chemically identifying peptides of the gut by their C-terminal amidation (about half of all regulatory peptides are amidated), that resulted in the discovery of many more biologically active peptides.
In the years since, many other peptides like CCK, VIP, and enkephalin have been discovered which, like insulin, control metabolism through regulation of cellular uptake of fuels including sugar, protein, and lipids, behavior, the proliferation of cells, the immune system, etc. Peptides represent a diverse symphony of regulators of most bodily and mental functions, and as such are a rich source for understanding human physiology and developing human therapeutics. The IRPS, and RegPep, exist to serve that purpose. The IRPS was established and held its first international conference in 1976 because physiologists and pharmacologists who knew of Mutt’s work realized that it would result in an explosion in new knowledge about regulation of human physiology by peptides, and many new therapeutic opportunities to treat human diseases of the gut and peripheral tissues. Another great breakthrough in the field came when the brain factors that control pituitary hormone secretion were discovered to be peptides, and sequenced and chemically synthesized by Schally and Guillemin and their colleagues. As more peptide sequencing by colleagues of Guillemin and Schally, and of Mutt, occurred, it was realized that many of the ‘gut’ and ‘hypophysiotropic’ peptides were also expressed in the brain, and the science of neuroendocrinology became an integral part of what is today called ‘neuroscience’.
RegPep past meetings have been held in: Asilomar (USA, 1976), Beito (Norway, 1978), Cambridge (UK, 1980), Stockholm (Sweden, 1982), Rochester (USA, 1984), Vancouver (Canada, 1986), Shizuoka (Japan, 1988), Timmerndorfer Strand (Germany, 1990), Luewen (Belguim 1992), Santa Barbara (USA, 1994), Copenhagen (Denmark, 1996), Mackinac Island (USA, 1998), Cairns (Australia, 2000), Boston (USA, 2002), Toulouse (France, 2004), Hakone (Japan, 2006), Santa Bárbara (USA, 2009), Belfast (Ireland, 2010), Copenhagen (Denmark, 2012), Kyoto (Japan, 2014), Rouen (France, 2016) and Acapulco-Diamante, (Mexico, 2018)
Throughout these years, RegPep has been a constant source of intellectual renewal in the promise of peptides for understanding fundamental neuroscience and endocrinology, and focusing this knowledge clinically and, particularly in this coming year, in new drug discovery. RegPep celebrates the triad of physiology, medicine, and pharmacology in both a practical and an intellectual way. Intellectually, knowledge about new peptides in various species is of basic interest no matter in what species the initial discoveries are made. Information about the pharmacological effects of administered peptides in humans, or detection of altered peptide levels in various human diseases such as hypoparathyroidism, diabetes, epilepsy, and so forth allows confirmation of the importance of the new peptide in clinical medicine. Finally, as a practical matter, peptide actions in contributing to diseases suggest drugs that act by blocking their receptors, while peptide actions in ameliorating disease suggest drugs that act by stimulating their receptors.
Lee E. Eiden (NIH, USA, Chair of RegPep2018), Limei Zhang (UNAM, Mexico, Co-Chair of RegPep2018)