Retinoic Acid and Retinoid X Receptors - Series II

Dear Colleagues,

Following the successful publication of the first Special Issue of “Retinoic Acid and Retinoid X Receptors” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cells/special_issues/RAR_RXR), we are very pleased to launch a new edition, which is dedicated to highlighting the recent developments and related research in the field.

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are transcription factors that work with other proteins to regulate gene expression. What sets them apart from most transcription factors is their capacity to bind directly to DNA and alter their regulatory state in response to the binding of a ligand. NRs are found in all multicellular animals and act during development, as well as in adult life. Amongst the different NRs, one heterodimer has received particular attention, due to its crucial importance for vertebrate development: that of the retinoic acid receptor (RAR or NR1B) and the retinoid X receptor (RXR or NR2B). Regulated chiefly by the binding of the ligand, retinoic acid (RA), to RAR, the RXR-RAR heterodimer controls functions as diverse as embryonic patterning, organogenesis and cell differentiation. However, the roles of RXR–RAR are not limited to animal development. The heterodimer also acts in adults and has thus been targeted in drug discovery programs to treat, for example, skin diseases and different cancers. This new edition of our Special Issue on RAR and RXR is intended to present an update on the large variety of ongoing research, ranging from their evolutionary origins to the molecular signaling cascades mediating their responses, from their developmental roles to their roles in disease, and from the structural basis of their activity to their toxicology and clinical pharmacology. We invite submissions of both review articles and research reports and hope that this second installment of the Special Issue on RAR and RXR will succeed in attracting contributions reflecting the diversity and ingenuity of the community actively engaged in research on RAR and/or RXR.

Dr. Michael Schubert
Dr. Pierre Germain
Guest Editors

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• nuclear receptor signaling
• retinoic acid receptor
• retinoid X receptor
• pharmacology
• structure/function relationships
• genomic and non-genomic signaling
• post-translational modification
• homeostasis and disease
• development
• origin and evolution