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.

Dr. Campbell received his PhD at the University of Kent, UK (1994), and subsequently undertook post-doctoral studies at Cedars Sinai Medical Center/UCLA in Los Angeles, CA (1997) followed by further post-doctoral training at the University of Birmingham, UK, before transitioning to a faculty position at the same institution (1999). In 2007 he relocated to the US, to join Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY, and subsequently to the Ohio State University (OSU) in 2016. Dr. Campbell is a Professor in the College of Pharmacy at OSU, and a Member of the James Comprehensive Cancer Center.  He serves on the Editorial Board of several journals including Endocrine-Related Cancer.

His research is centered on the roles of nuclear receptors in cancer biology, and specifically investigating how these actions are disrupted by genomic and epigenomic mechanisms. To date, he has published approximately 150 papers, reviews and book chapters. In 2010, he was co-editor on the Springer book Nuclear Receptors: Current Concepts and Future Challenges

Prof. Bevan gained her PhD (1996), at the University of Cambridge, UK studying androgen receptor function in Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. She undertook postdoctoral research at the then ICRF Lincoln’s Inn Fields laboratories, London (now the Francis Crick Institute) before joining Imperial College London in 1999. There, she is Professor of Cancer Biology, leading the Prostate Cancer research programme in the Department of Surgery & Cancer. In addition to, and enhancing, her research a major aspect of her role is the training and mentoring of young scientists at every level, and she has lead roles in PhD training, undergraduate bioscience teaching and equal opportunities.

The research focus of her team is to improve therapy prospects for men with advanced prostate cancer, often taking a convergent science approach. Specific interests include mechanisms of androgen signalling;roles of nuclear receptors and their cofactors in prostate cancer progression and therapy resistance; crosstalk between non-coding RNA and androgen receptor signalling; new therapeutic approaches for resistant disease. To date she has organised 3 international Nuclear Receptor meetings and published over 100 papers, reviews and book chapters.