The nuclear vitamin D receptor: biological and molecular regulatory properties revealed.

IN THE DECADE SINCE THE VITAMIN D RECEPTOR (VDR) was cloned and recognized as a member of the superfamily of nuclear receptors that regulate gene expression in a ligand-dependent manner, the central role of VDR in the biology of vitamin D action has been illuminated and is being defined at the molecular level. Following renal production as the hormonal metabolite of vitamin D, 1a,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) functions as the ligand for VDR, with the hormone–receptor complex inducing calcemic and phosphatemic effects that result in normal bone mineralization and remodeling. VDR not only mediates the action of 1,25(OH)2D3 in calcium/phosphate translocating tissues, primarily intestine, but also elicits a myriad of apparent bioactivities in other major cell systems in the organism, including immune, neural, epithelial, and endocrine. The scope of this review will be limited to highlighting the actions of 1,25(OH)2D3 mediated by nuclear VDR and discussing new developments in the structure/function analysis of the receptor, including the phenotype of VDR knockout mice and the biochemical classification of patients with point mutations in the receptor. These new advances, along with other recent research, will be interpreted to update our understanding of the molecular role of VDR, ranging from characterization of its natural gene and clinically significant polymorphisms, through its DNA contact sites and protein partners, to novel ligand analogs that hold the promise of influencing VDR conformation in a therapeutically beneficial fashion. VDR BIOLOGY