Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a multifactorial disease (caused by both environmental and genetic features) that could results from a demyelination of the myelin sheath. Subsequently, it leads to many scars or lesions in different places within the central nervous system. The symptoms that occur depend on the site and rigorousness of the lesions and this is why people with MS experience different s...

Abstract Background Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that regulates calcium and phosphorous homeostasis to maintain healthy mineralized skeleton. It can also influence immune responses has immunomodulatory properties. receptor (VDR) nuclear mediates the activities of hormonal form D. VDR polymorphisms alter immunity susceptibility infections by modulating expression activity. This study aimed...

MD simulations of vitamin D receptor (VDR) complexed with ligands having structurally and functionally varying properties have been carried out to investigate atomic level mechanisms responsible for the ligands’ functional behavior. It was shown that the degree of structural order in the carboxy-terminal α-helix inversely correlated with the strength of the antagonistic activity of the ligand a...

Vitamin D has anti-proliferative and proapoptotic effects on several cell types, including breast cancer cells. There have been no studies quantifying the expression of the enzyme 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-alpha-hydroxylase (1alphaOHase), which converts 25-hydroxyvitamin D to its active metabolite, in breast tissue. We performed real-time RT-PCR to quantity 1alphaOHase and vitamin D receptor (VDR) ...

Vitamin D analogs are effective inhibitors of breast cancer cell growth, but many breast cancer cell lines show various degrees of resistance to the growth inhibitory effect of vitamin D. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] resistance of the human breast epithelial cell line HBL100, which had been immortalized by Simian virus 40 (SV40) large T ...

Polymorphisms of the vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) have been associated inconsistently with various diseases, across populations of diverse origin. The T(f) allele of the functional SNP FokI, in exon 2 of VDR, results in a longer vitamin D receptor protein (VDR) isoform, proposed to be less active. Genetic association of VDR with disease is likely confounded by ethnicity and environmental facto...

Emerging evidence supports a pathological link between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To explore the mechanism we used the dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model to investigate the role of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in mucosal barrier homeostasis. While VDR(+/+) mice were mostly resistant to 2.5% DSS, VDR(-/-) mice developed severe diarrhea,...

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) binds to the vitamin D response element (VDRE) and mediates the effects of the biologically active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25-(OH)2D3], on gene expression. The VDR binds to the VDRE as a heterodimeric complex with retinoid X receptor. In the present study, we have used a yeast two-hybrid system to clone complementary DNA that codes for VDR-int...

Hereditary 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets (HVDRR), a rare recessive disease, is caused by mutation in the VDR gene encoding the vitamin D receptor leading to the resistance to vitamin D. We described a female toddler with initial presentation of leg tenderness and clinical features of HVDRR including severe rickets, hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia without alopecia. Genetic analysi...

The vitamin D endocrine systems plays a critical role in calcium and phosphate homeostasis. The active form of vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3[1,25(OH)2D3], binds with high affinity to a specific cellular receptor that acts as a ligand-activated transcription factor. The activated vitamin D receptor (VDR) dimerizes with another nuclear receptor, the retinoid X receptor (RXR), and the hetero...