Endocrine Abstracts

Vitamin D has always been an endocrinology ‘outsider’. Although it is clearly fundamental for mineral homeostasis and bone health, it had its beginnings in nutrition and most people aren’t bothered that active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25D) is a steroid hormone so long as they can buy vitamin D capsules from their local supermarket. When I joined the vitamin D research team at the Middlesex Hospital in 1985 vitamin D was undergoing a further departure from mainstream endocrinology. This was start of the era of ‘non-classical vitamin D’ - effects of 1,25D beyond the skeleton. My presentation will describe how this facet of vitamin D evolved from disease phenomenology to the fundamental mechanisms that form the basis of the many high profile vitamin D supplementation trials over the last few years. The evolution of ‘Extra-skeletal vitamin D’ has occurred in parallel with my own career, and I will describe some of the key discoveries that were made during my time in London, Birmingham and Los Angeles, and the wonderful colleagues who contributed to our current understanding of vitamin D.