p63 and p73, members of the p53 family, have been shown to be functionally distinct from p53. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a ligand (vitamin D 3 )-dependent transcription factor, which is shown to play a major role in calcium homeostasis and keratinocyte differentiation. Vitamin D and its analogues in combination with DNA-damaging agents are extensively used for cancer chemotherapy. In this report, we examined whether p53 affects p63-mediated induction of VDR and studied the effect of DNA damage on VDR induction in p53 null cell lines. Our results demonstrate that p53 itself does not induce VDR expression, nor does it affect p63-mediated VDR induction in the cell lines tested in this study. Furthermore, we observed p53-independent activation of VDR upon DNA damage and associated the induction of VDR to p73. We have demonstrated that ectopic expression of various p73 isoforms can induce VDR expression. Inhibition of p73 in cells treated with DNA-damaging agents exhibited decreased VDR expression. Finally, we show that upon DNA damage, induction of VDR sensitizes the cells to vitamin D treatment. In conclusion, our results indicate that VDR is regulated by p63 and p73 and that the induction of VDR expression upon DNA damage is p73-dependent. p53, the most frequently altered gene in human cancers, controls multiple signaling pathways by regulating the genes involved in cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, DNA repair, cellular senescence, and inhibition of angiogenesis (1). Stabilization of p53 protein occurs in response to various stress stimuli including DNA damage, viral infection, or oncogenic activation (1, 2). Although the functional significance of p53 and its interacting proteins have been studied extensively, it was not until 1997 that the functional homologues of p53, namely p63 and p73, were discovered. Despite being structurally similar to p53, p63 and p73 were shown to be functionally more diverse and distinct from p53 (3, 4). p63 knock-out mice were born with severe developmental defects, which included lack of skin and various epithelial tissues, whereas p73 knock-out mice were born with neuronal defects as well as changes in sexual behavior (5, 6).Functional diversities associated with p63 and p73 are partly due to their ability to generate multiple transcripts. Differential promoter usage by both p63 and p73 results in the generation of either transactivation domain containing isoforms (TAp63 and TAp73) or NH 2 -terminally truncated isoforms (⌬Np63 and ⌬Np73) (7). Additionally, multiple carboxyl termini variants, ␣, , and ␥ of p63 and ␣, , ␥, ⑀, and ␦ of p73, are generated due to the differential splicing of COOH terminus. Due to their structural similarity with p53, TA isoforms of both p63 and p73 have been shown to activate various p53-responsive genes and promote cell cycle arrest and apoptosis (8, 9). On the contrary, elevated levels of ⌬Np63 and ⌬Np73 isoforms have been reported in several human cancers, and these isoforms have also been associated with the induction of various genes involved in prom...