title: Vitamin D receptor signaling in renal and cardiovascular protection.
abstract: The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with chronic kidney disease is believed to be an important risk factor for the cardiorenal syndrome commonly seen in this patient population. African Americans suffer a disproportionally high incidence of renal and cardiovascular disease with poor disease outcome, which may be partly attributed to their low vitamin D status in part owing to low subcutaneous photoproduction of vitamin D. Mounting evidence from animal and clinical studies has shown beneficial effects of vitamin D therapy on the renal and cardiovascular systems, and the underlying renoprotective and cardioprotective mechanisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR)-mediated signaling are under intense investigation. In this article, our most recent understanding of the renal protective mechanism of the podocyte VDR signaling against diabetic nephropathy and the anti-atherosclerotic role of macrophage VDR signaling in the regulation of atherosclerosis is reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Electronic address: cyan@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu.
authors.forename: Yan Chun
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000209:etiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D050199:Podocytes / Q000502:physiology; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol; D014807:Vitamin D
keywords: Vitamin D deficiency; atherosclerosis; diabetic nephropathy; macrophage; podocyte; renin-angiotensin system