p63 and p73, members of the p53 family, have been shown to be functionally distinct from p53. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a ligand (vitamin D(3))-dependent transcription factor, which is shown to play a major role in calcium homeostasis and keratinocyte differentiation. Vitamin D and its analogues in combination with DNA-damaging agents are extensively used for cancer chemotherapy. In this repo...

BACKGROUND Like other steroid hormones, vitamin D elicits both transcriptional events and rapid non genomic effects. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) localization and mechanisms of VDR-triggered non genomic responses are still controversial. Although anticoagulant effects of vitamin D have been reported and VDR signalling has been characterized in monocytes and vascular cells, nothing is known about VD...

BACKGROUND Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which are characterized by insulin resistance. Inflammation is a co-morbid condition associated with obesity. Vitamin D, besides being a transcriptional regulator, is an inflammation suppressor. However, the role of vitamin D in alleviating obesity-induced insulin resistance is still not well understood. METHODS The infl...

BACKGROUND Vitamin D mediates its action via vitamin D receptor (VDR) and is involved in a wide variety of biological processes including regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation in normal tissue and apoptosis, and cell adhesion in tumor cells. The study of genetic variations in VDR may elucidate the association of vitamin D levels, its metabolism, and VDR polymorphism with various ...

Vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene abnormalities confer susceptibility to tuberculosis. Toll-like receptors (TLRs), such asTLR-2, are also important mediators of inflammatory response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We evaluated serum vitamin D, and VDR and TLR-2 gene polymorphisms in patients with spinal tuberculosis.This study comprised of 3 groups: spinal tuberculosis...

The vitamin D(3) receptor (VDR), which is the nuclear receptor for 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) [1alpha,25(OH)(2)D(3)], acts primarily as a heterodimer with the retinoid X receptor (RXR) and binds preferentially to directly repeated arrangements of two hexameric binding sites with three spacing nucleotides [DR3-type vitamin D response elements (VDREs)]. In this study, all presently known nat...

Dusso, Adriana S., Alex J. Brown, and Eduardo Slatopolsky. Vitamin D. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 289: F8–F28, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00336.2004.—The vitamin D endocrine system plays an essential role in calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism, but research during the past two decades has revealed a diverse range of biological actions that include induction of cell differentiation, inhibitio...

BACKGROUND Recent studies have suggested that vitamin D can act on cells in the nervous system. Associations between polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor (VDR), age-dependent cognitive decline, and insufficient serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D(3) levels in Alzheimer's patients and elderly people with cognitive decline have been reported. We have previously shown that amyloid β (Aβ) treatment elimin...

1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25(OH)2D), the active metabolite of vitamin D, and calcium regulate epidermal differentiation. 1,25(OH)2D exerts its effects through the vitamin D receptor (VDR), a transcription factor in the nuclear hormone receptor family, whereas calcium acts through the calcium sensing receptor (Casr), a membrane bound member of the G protein coupled receptor family. We have deve...

PURPOSE It is estimated that one third of the world's population were infected with M. tuberculosis, but only 10% of them have developed in to disease form. This subject refers to differences in host immune system activity against the tuberculosis. Vitamin D and its receptor (VDR) are important factors in the host innate immune system against the tuberculosis. In the present study VDR gene poly...