Nuclear Receptors in Human Health and Disease

This book addresses and dissects the roles and crosstalk mechanisms for  the 48 human nuclear receptors (NR) in human health and disease. After a  State-of-the-Art introduction by an undisputed and celebrated field  leader to provide an overview of the field and its significance,  chapters are organized into six sections. The first three sections  discuss NR roles in Reproduction & Development, Metabolism and  Central Systems. These present to the reader our current understanding  of NR signaling in the development and functioning of the reproductive  system; the roles in the regulation of energy metabolism; and how NR  signaling is more widely integrated into systemic functions from calcium  flux to circadian rhythm. The subsequent three sections dissect how  aberrant NR functions drive Cancer; how new insights into Genomic  Interaction are helping to reveal how NR disruption drives disease; and  finally, how Translational Efforts are exploiting this understanding  from developing novel NR ligands to establishing how underlying genetic  variation impacts NR function.

Within these sections the  chapters also illustrate emerging understanding of how the epigenome and  non-coding genome combine to regulate NR function and impact  dysfunction. Increasingly these insights cross-fertilize over cell and  disease boundaries and it is unsurprising that NR are being explored in  novel and new arenas such as the context of neurological disorders and  depression. Thus, there is wide scope for re-purposing of licensed drugs  and development of new NR-targeting therapies for a host of conditions  and diseases.

This unique book brings together many of  the leading figures in NR research from across the globe, to discuss  emerging roles and their implications for human health and disease. It  summarizes the state of the art and shows signposts for future research  to further shape this influential field.