Richard Kremer, MD, PhD

Primary Axis:

Research Focus:

My research focuses on the role of calcium regulating hormones in health and disease. Over the past twenty years my laboratory has explored the role of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone related peptide (PTHrP) in cancer and musculoskeletal disorders. We were the first to establish the efficacy of vitamin D in reducing the skeletal complications of breast cancer and more recently in demonstrating the importance of the vitamin D activating enzyme, 1-alpha-hydroxylase expressed in mammary epithelial cells, in the prevention of breast cancer. We were also the first laboratory to demonstrate the in vivo efficacy of vitamin D on bone aging and prevention of fat accumulation in the bone marrow. Recently, we co-authored the first evidence linking vitamin D insufficiency and muscle fat accumulation. We were also the first laboratory to establish the role of PTHrP as a biomarker of survival in cancer and more recently as a critical mediator of tumor initiation and progression in breast cancer. My clinical research unit also participates in major multicenter trials on osteoporosis and bone–related cancer trials.

Keywords:

Vitamin D, PTHrP, osteoporosis, breast cancer, pre-clinical models, clinical trials, skeletal metastasis

Publications:

Gilsanz V, Kremer A, Mo AO, Wren TA, Kremer R. Vitamin D status and its relation to muscle mass and muscle fat in young women. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 95(4):1595-1601, 2010

Gustavo Duque, Dao Chao Huang, Michael Macoritto, Daniel Rivas, Xian Fang Yang, Richard Kremer. Autocrine Regulation of Interferon γ in Mesenchymal Stem Cells plays a Role in Early Osteoblastogenesis. Stem Cells 27(3):550-558, 2009

Macoritto, M., Nguyen-Yamamoto, L., Huang, D.C., Samuel, S., Yang, X.F., Wang, T.T., White, J.H., Kremer, R. Phosphorylation of the human retinoid X receptor at serine 260 impacts coactivator(s) recruitment and induces hormone resistance to multiple ligands. J. Biol. Chem. 283:4943-56, 2008