Cosyntropin

Adrenocorticotropic hormone is used as a medication and as diagnostic agent in the ACTH stimulation test.:316,1165:84,271 Adrenocorticotropic hormone is used as a medication and as diagnostic agent in the ACTH stimulation test.:316,1165:84,271 The form that is purified from pig pituitary glands is known as corticotropin:316 is a medication and naturally occurring polypeptide tropic hormone produced and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland.:84 The form that is made synthetically is tetracosactide, also known as tetracosactrin and cosyntropin.:1165:271 It consists of the first 24 (of a total of 39) amino acids of ACTH and retains full function of the parent peptide.:1165 Tetracosactide stimulates the release of corticosteroids such as cortisol from the adrenal glands, and is used for the ACTH stimulation test to assess adrenal gland function.:271 Both corticotropin and tetracosactide have been used for diagnostic purposes to determine adrenocortical insufficiency, particularly in Addison's disease, via the ACTH stimulation test. However, as of 2015 the US label for corticotropin does not include diagnostic use. Both corticotropin and tetracosactide have been used for therapeutic purposes. In the US the tetracosactide label is limited to diagnosis but the UK label provides for therapeutic uses. In the US corticotropin is used to treat epileptic spasms in infants, acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis in adults; acute episodes of psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis; in acute exacerbations or as maintenance therapy for the collagen disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic dermatomyositis; for skin conditions like severe erythema multiforme and Stevens-Johnson syndrome; for serum sickness; for severe acute and chronic allergic and inflammatory processes involving the eye such as keratitis, iritis, iridocyclitis, diffuse posterior uveitis, choroiditis, optic neuritis, chorioretinitis, and anterior segment inflammation; sarcoidosis in the lungs; and to treat edema in certain nephrotic syndromes. In the UK tetracosactide is used for short-term therapy in conditions for which glucocorticoids are usually used but for some reason should not be; some uses include use for people who don't respond to glucocorticoids or cannot tolerate them who have ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or osteoarthrosis. In the US the only contraindication for tetracosactide for diagnostic use is hypersensitivity to ADCH but in the UK, regulators placed contraindications for hypersensitivity to ADCH and additionally, for people with allergic disorders including asthma, acute psychosis, infectious diseases, peptic ulcer, refractory heart failure, Cushing's syndrome, treatment of primary adrenocortical insufficiency and adrenocongenital syndrome. The same contraindications that were applied in the UK for diagnostic use of tetracosactide, apply for therapeutic use of both tetracosactide and corticotropin in the US and UK.