POMC and neoplasm: Neither our plasma ACTH tumours of Cushing’s patients (26,56), nor those studied by Natori et al (57,58) allow the conclusion that 7B2-IR levels in plasma are increased in Cushing’s patients, and corticotrophic adenomas have not shown increased 7B2 secretion in vitro, although 7B2 is concomitantly secreted with ACTH by AtT-20 tumourous cells in vitro (56).