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Global Translational Medicine

REVIEW ARTICLE
The multifaceted functions of mineralocorticoid

receptor in cardiometabolic disease

1,2
Jian-Yong Sun , Yong-Li Wang , Hong Zhu , and Sheng-Zhong Duan *
1,2
1,2
3
1 Laboratory of Oral Microbiota and Systemic Diseases, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, College of
Stomatology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200125, China
2 National Centre for Stomatology; National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases; Shanghai
Key Laboratory of Stomatology, Shanghai 200011, China
3 Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Chest Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai
200030, China

Abstract
Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs), which cause 31% of all global deaths, are one
of the greatest public health challenges. Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), as a
key nuclear transcription factor, is an important drug target for the treatment of
CMDs. It is known that MR is expressed in almost all tissues and organs involved in
cardiovascular homeostasis, including immune tissue, adipose tissue, brain, heart,
kidney, and blood vessels. In the pathophysiology of CMDs, MR exerts different
functions in different tissues and cells. This review summarizes the roles of MR in
various cell types and discusses the molecular mechanisms through which MR exerts
it functions in CMDs.

Keywords: Cardiometabolic diseases; Mineralocorticoid receptor; Mineralocorticoid
*Corresponding author: receptor antagonist
Sheng-Zhong Duan
(duansz@shsmu.edu.cn)
Citation: Sun J-Y, Wang
Y-L, Zhu H, et al., 2023, The
multifaceted functions of 1. Introduction
mineralocorticoid receptor in
cardiometabolic disease. Global Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) remain the leading cause of morbidity and mortality
Transl Med, 2(1): 229. worldwide . CMDs contain a constellation of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including
[1]
https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.v2i1.229 coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and associated metabolic disorders, such
Received: October 19, 2022 as obesity and diabetes [1,2] . The incidence of classical risk factors for CMDs such as
Accepted: November 24, 2022 smoking, high blood pressure, and hypercholesterolemia has decreased over the past
Published Online: January 12, 2023
few decades . However, the rate of obesity and the prevalence of type 2 diabetes have
[2]
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). markedly increased [2,3] . This changing disease pattern poses a huge challenge to the
This is an Open Access article treatment of CMDs. Although there is a growing number of drugs that target classical
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension and hyperlipidemia, current treatment
License, permitting distribution, regimens do not prevent most cardiovascular events . Therefore, it is necessary to
[4]
and reproduction in any medium, further study the pathophysiological mechanism of CMDs to identify new targets for
provided the original work is
properly cited. personalized therapy.
[5]
Publisher’s Note: AccScience Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily .
Publishing remains neutral with MR is involved in transcriptional regulation and plays important roles in CMDs [5-7] .
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional The steroid hormone aldosterone is a classical MR ligand that regulates blood pressure
affiliations. and promotes sodium retention in the kidney [8,9] . An increasing number of clinical

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/gtm.v2i1.229