Retinoid X receptor

The retinoid X receptor (RXR) is a type of nuclear receptor which is activated by 9-cis retinoic acid. There are three retinoic acid receptors (RXR), RXR-alpha, RXR-beta, and RXR-gamma encoded by the, , genes respectively.

RXR heterodimerizes with subfamily 1 nuclear receptors including CAR, FXR, LXR, PPAR, PXR, RAR, TR, and VDR.

As with other type II nuclear receptors, the RXR heterodimer in the absence of ligand is bound to hormone response elements complexed with corepressor protein. Binding of agonist ligands to RXR results in dissociation of corepressor and recruitment of coactivator protein which in turn promotes transcription of the downstream target gene into mRNA and eventually protein.