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From carrot to clinic: an overview of the retinoic acid signaling pathway

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An Erratum to this article was published on 14 April 2010

Abstract

Vitamin A is essential for the formation and maintenance of many body tissues. It is also important for embryonic growth and development and can act as a teratogen at critical periods of development. Retinoic acid (RA) is the biologically active form of vitamin A and its signaling is mediated by the RA and retinoid X receptors. In addition to its role as an important molecule during development, RA has also been implicated in clinical applications, both as a potential anti-tumor agent as well as for the treatment of skin diseases. This review presents an overview of how dietary retinoids are converted to RA, hence presenting the major players in RA metabolism and signaling, and highlights examples of treatment applications of retinoids. Moreover, we discuss the origin and diversification of the retinoid pathway, which are important factors for understanding the evolution of ligand-specificity among retinoid receptors.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Gabriel V. Markov, Jasmin Schulz, and Gérard Benoit for critical reading of the manuscript, and the ANR (ANR-07-BLAN-0038 and ANR-09-BLAN-0262-02), the CNRS, and CRESCENDO (a European Union Integrated Project of FP6) for providing financial support. Furthermore, we would like to apologize to all colleagues, whose original work and contributions could not be cited in this article due to space limitations.

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  1. Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Université de Lyon (Université Lyon 1, CNRS, INRA, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon), 46 allée d’Italie, 69364, Lyon Cedex 07, France

    Maria Theodosiou, Vincent Laudet & Michael Schubert

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  1. Maria Theodosiou
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  2. Vincent Laudet
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  3. Michael Schubert
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Correspondence to Michael Schubert.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00018-010-0361-3

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Theodosiou, M., Laudet, V. & Schubert, M. From carrot to clinic: an overview of the retinoic acid signaling pathway. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 67, 1423–1445 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-010-0268-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-010-0268-z

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