Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Intestinal epithelial VDR is important for maintaining cellular and physiological levels of TJ protein Claudin-5 to prevent inflammation and tumorigenesis in the colon. At the molecular level, the CLDN-5 gene is a newly discovered downstream target of the transcriptional factor VDR. Lack of VDR led to a reduction of Claudin-5 and more tumors, whereas enhancing VDR increased Claudin-5 to protect the intestinal epithelial cells from tumorigenesis. Overall, we noted a link between VDR signaling and barrier functions in CRC.