6533b7d5fe1ef96bd1263c5a

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Long-term vitamin D treatment decreases human uterine leiomyoma size in a xenograft animal model

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Objective To study the effects of short- and long-term vitamin D treatment on uterine leiomyomas in vivo through cell proliferation, extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, and apoptosis. Design Preclinical study of human leiomyoma treatment with vitamin D in an nonhuman animal model. Setting Hospital and university laboratories. Patient(s)/Animal(s) Human leiomyomas were collected from patients and implanted in ovariectomized NOD-SCID mice. Intervention(s) Mice were treated with vitamin D (0.5 μg/kg/d or 1 μg/kg/d) or vehicle for 21 or 60 days. Main Outcome Measure(s) Vitamin D effect in xenograft tissue was assessed by monitoring tumor size (18F-FDG positron-emission tomography/computerized tomography and macroscopic examination), cell proliferation (immunohistochemistry and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction [qRT-PCR]), ECM (Western blot), transforming growth factor (TGF) β3 (qRT-PCR), and apoptosis (Westrn blot and TUNEL). Result(s) Short-term treatment with vitamin D did not appear to alter leiomyoma size, based on in vivo monitoring and macroscopic examination. However, long-term high-dose treatment induced a significant reduction in leiomyoma size. Cell proliferation was not decreased in the short term, whereas 1 μg/kg/d vitamin D in the long term significantly reduced proliferation compared with control. Although collagen-I and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 were not modified by short-term treatment, they were both significantly reduced by long-term high-dose vitamin D. Similarly, long-term high-dose vitamin D significantly reduced TGF-β3 expression. Finally, apoptosis significantly increased with both short- and long-term high-dose vitamin D treatment. Conclusion(s) Long-term vitamin D acts as an antiproliferative, antifibrotic, and proapoptotic therapy that provides a safe, nonsurgical therapeutic option for reducing uterine leiomyoma size without side-effects.