The biologically active form of vitamin D, i.e., 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol or calcitriol, plays an important role in bone metabolism and calcium homeostasis, which is often disturbed at the onset of lactation in high milk-yielding domestic ruminants. Gene transcription is modulated via vitamin D receptors, but nongenomic effects of vitamin D via membrane receptors have also been described. ...

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood cancer. Several studies have shown that ALL occurs as a result of genetic abnormalities. 1, 25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 as a secosteroid hormone plays an important role in different metabolic pathways. The normal function of vitamin D occurs via binding to a ligand-activated transcription factor i.e. vitamin D receptor (VDR)...

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) plays an important role in detoxifying xenobiotics and drugs. In this issue of the JCI, Pascussi et al. provide convincing evidence that PXR can also induce vitamin D deficiency and bone disease because of its ability to cross-talk with the vitamin D-responsive gene that catabolizes 25-hydroxy-vitamin D and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. This cross-talk behavior has importan...

several asthma susceptibility loci, including a region containing the vitamin d receptor (vdr) gene located at chromosome 12q, have been identified using genome-wide screens. our aim is to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (snps) in vdr gene and asthma. one hundred one asthma patients and 206 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. genotypes were determin...

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are a large family of ligand-induced transcription factors that include the vitamin D receptor. The recent discovery of WINAC, a novel ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complex, has shed new light on the molecular mechanisms by which the vitamin D receptor controls gene expression with unexpected clinical implications.

Recent studies have shown that the multifunctional protein calreticulin can localize to the cell nucleus and regulate gene transcription via its ability to bind a protein motif in the DNA-binding domain of nuclear hormone receptors. A number of known modulators of bone cell function, including vitamin D, act through this receptor family, suggesting that calreticulin may regulate their action in...