Retinoic Acid and Retinoid X Receptors

Dear Colleagues,

Nuclear receptors (NRs) are transcription factors that work with other proteins to regulate gene expression. Their capacity to bind directly to DNA and to alter their regulatory state in response to the binding of a ligand sets them apart from most other transcription factors. 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 development efforts to treat, for example, skin diseases and different cancers. This Special Issue is intended to present an overview of the large variety of ongoing and past research on RAR and RXR, 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 Special Issue will ultimately succeed in 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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