Constitutive Hedgehog (HH) signaling underlies several human tumors, including basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Recently, Bijlsma and colleagues reported a new biologic function for vitamin D3 in suppressing HH signaling in an in vitro model system. On the basis of that work, we have assessed effects of vitamin D3 on HH signaling and proliferation of murine BCCs in vitro and in vivo. We find that in...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder caused by a complex interaction between genetic and environmental risk factors. Among the environmental factors, vitamin D3 (cholecaliferol) seems to play a significant role in the etiology of ASD because this vitamin is important for brain development. Lower concentrations of vitamin D3 may lead to increased brain size, alt...

Theoharis C. Theoharides, MS, MPhil, PhD, MD, FAAAAI Vitamin D is primarily found in vertebrates and it is mostly responsible for calcium homeostasis and maintenance of healthy bones. Natural vitamin D is obtained from intake of fish oils and other animal sources. Interestingly, microalgae contain both pre vitamin D and active vitamin D3. In humans, vitamin D synthesis is initiated in the skin ...

BACKGROUND/AIM Vitamin D3 has increased risk of toxicity due to its common use in multivitamin preparations. Vitamin K and vitamin A play an important role in vitamin D action. The goal of the current study was to compare the protective effects of vitamin K and vitamin A on the modulation of hypervitaminosis D3 toxicity in rats by assessing serum calcium, renal function tests, cardiac enzymes, ...

This study was conducted to evaluate the relative bioavailability (RBV) of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OH-D3) to cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) in 1- to 21-d-old broiler chickens fed with calcium (Ca)- and phosphorus (P)-deficient diets. On the day of hatch, 450 female Ross 308 broiler chickens were assigned to nine treatments, with five replicates of ten birds each. The basal diet contained 0....

Vitamin D3 is a promising preventative and therapeutic agent for prostate cancer, but its implementation is hampered by a lack of understanding about its mechanism of action. Upon treatment with 1a,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3, vitamin D3], the metabolically active form of vitamin D3, adult prostate progenitor/ stem cells (PrP/SC) undergo cell-cycle arrest, senescence, and differentiatio...

AIM To prospectively evaluate the effects of vitamin D3 on disease activity and quality of life in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients with hypovitaminosis D. METHODS The study was a prospective double-blinded, randomized trial conducted at Community Regional Medical Center, Fresno, CA from 2012-2013. Patients with UC and a serum 25(OH)D level <30 ng/ml were eligible for the study. Enrolled subj...

Objective(s): Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multi-factorial autoimmune disease which may be characterized by T lymphocytes dysfunctions. Th17 cells have been identified as new effector cells, which play an important role in the pathogenesis. In recent years, immunomodulatory effect of vitamin D3 has been noticed. In the present experiment, the effect of vitamin D3 on the expression of...