Other miscellaneous hormone binding proteins: Attempt at an epilogue

An overview of the detection, mechanism of formation and clinical function of hormone binding proteins shedded from the membrane receptor and detected in the last twenty years is presented. The representatives of such binding proteins are restricted only to human soluble receptors that have been already detected in blood or other intravasal fluids such as soluble receptors for LH/hCG, prolactin, TSH, erythropoietin, insulin and IGF-I. The clinical or diagnostic significance of these putative-detectable or indeed circulating proteins often remains largely unclear.