Abstract
The nuclear receptor family PPAR is a group of ligand-activated transcription factors. The first member of this family, PPAR a, was identified as a mediator of the actions of hypolipidemic agents to induce the proliferation of peroxisomes in rodent liver. PPAR family was later implicated in versatile biological processes, including lipid homeostasis, regulation of inflammatory responses, macrophage differentiation and its functions. Moreover, PPAR seems closely linked to the diseases troubling modern people, such as diabetes, atherosclerosis and cancer. This has led enthusiastic research interests in the fields of not only basic biology, but also medical and pharmaceutical sciences. PPAR is probably activated by various lipid ligands, and mainly regulates in many tissues the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism. The natural ligands and genuine functions of PPAR are still to be made clear. Accumulation of fundamental knowledge of the PPAR functions and development of novel ligands are expected to lead to efficient remedies.
This paper overview the general aspects of PPAR structure-function studies, from the history of its discovery to the applications in future.
