Nuclear Receptors and the Adaptive Response of the Heart

The nuclear receptor (NR) superfamily is involved in a wide range of physiological processes, including homeostasis, development, and metabolism. Since NRs can directly or indirectly interact with DNA, they often play key regulatory roles in health and disease. More recently NRs have been identified in the myocardium, making them interesting pharmacological targets for disease. This chapter explores the different classes and structure of myocardial NRs, their transcription factor-like regulatory mechanisms, the response elements they target, and the processes that regulate them through ligand binding and posttranslational modifications.