Endocrine Abstracts

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The bioactive form of Vitamin D [1,25(OH)2D3] plays a major role in calcium homeostasis. Moreover, it has potent anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties, and thus is a potential pharmacological agent to treat various refractory diseases. Nevertheless, the doses required to elicit such effects induce hypercalcemia. The activity of 1,25(OH)2D3 is mediated by the vitamin D receptor (VDR), a member of nuclear receptor superfamily. A number of patients with rickets carr...

Heart failure is a leading cause of death in man, and stress is increasingly associated with adverse cardiac outcomes. Glucocorticoids are primary stress hormones, but their direct role in cardiovascular health and disease is poorly understood. To determine the in vivo function of glucocorticoid signaling in the heart, we generated mice with cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The cardioGRKO mice appear normal early in life but die pre...