Nuclear receptors and cholesterol metabolism in the intestine.

Nuclear receptors are involved in many important function and mediate signaling by factors including hormones, vitamins and a number of endogenous ligands and xenobiotics, several of which are involved in lipid metabolism. This review focuses on the liver X receptor (LXR), which is an important regulator of whole-body cholesterol, fatty acid, and glucose homeostasis that binds to LXR response elements as a heterodimer with retinoid X receptors, and the farnesoid X receptor (FXR), which is a bile acid receptor involved in feedback inhibition of bile acid synthesis, and thus cholesterol catabolism. These nuclear receptors regulate gene programs that control intestinal and hepatic lipid homeostasis through their effects on cholesterol transport and catabolism.