Structure-function relationship of the extracellular calcium-sensing receptor.

The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) originally cloned from bovine parathyroid gland is a G protein-coupled receptor. The physiological relevance of the cloned CaR for sensing and regulating the extracellular calcium concentration has been established by identifying hyper- and hypocalcemic disorders resulting from inactivating and activating mutations, respectively, in the CaR. The cloned CaR has been stably or transiently expressed in human embryonic kidney cells and significant progress has been made in elucidating its regulation and activation process using physiological, biochemical and molecular biological methods. A large collection of naturally occurring CaR mutations offers a valuable resource for studies aimed at understanding the structure-function relationships of the receptor, including functional importance of CaR dimerization. In turn, characterization of these naturally occurring mutations has clarified the pathogenesis of clinical conditions involving abnormalities in the CaR, such as familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia and neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism.