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The pleiotropic actions of vitamin D
Author(s) -
Lin Roberto,
White John H.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.10368
Subject(s) - vitamin d and neurology , calcitriol receptor , biology , rickets , positional cloning , immune system , vitamin , hormone , regulator , endocrinology , cyp24a1 , function (biology) , receptor , gene , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , mutant
General knowledge of the role of vitamin D 3 in human physiology has been shaped by its discovery as a preventive agent of nutritional rickets, a defect in bone development due to inadequate uptake of dietary calcium. Studies on the function of the hormonal form of vitamin D 3 , 1α,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D 3 , have been greatly accelerated by the molecular cloning and structural analysis of the vitamin D 3 receptor, which is a ligand‐activated regulator of gene transcription. Molecular genetic techniques including genomics have helped reveal that 1α,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D 3 can control more than calcium homeostasis. It has widespread effects on cellular differentiation and proliferation, and can modulate immune responsiveness, and central nervous system function. Moreover, accumulating epidemiological and molecular evidence suggests that 1α,25‐dihydroxyvitamin D 3 acts as a chemopreventive agent against several malignancies including cancers of the prostate and colon. Here, we survey the most‐recent findings and discuss their implications for the potential therapeutic uses of vitamin D analogues. BioEssays 26:21–28, 2004. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.