20-hydroxyvitamin D₃ inhibits proliferation of cancer cells with high efficacy while being non-toxic

  • Anticancer Res. 2012 Mar;32(3):739-46.
Jin Wang  1 ,  Andrzej Slominski ,  Robert C Tuckey ,  Zorica Janjetovic ,  Anand Kulkarni ,  Jianjun Chen ,  Arnold E Postlethwaite ,  Duane Miller ,  Wei Li
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA.
PMID: 22399586
Abstract

Aim: To define the potential utility of 20-hydroxyvitamin D(3) (20(OH)D(3)) as a tumorostatic agent, we assessed its in vitro antiproliferative activity and its in vivo toxicity.

Materials and methods: The antitumor activity of 20(OH)D(3) was tested against breast and liver Cancer cell lines using colony formation assays. To assess in vivo toxicity, mice were injected with 5-30 μg/kg 20(OH)D(3) intraperitoneally each day for 3 weeks. Blood and organ samples were collected for clinical pathology analyses.

Results: 20(OH)D(3) displays similar tumorostatic activity towards MDA-MB-453 and MCF7 breast carcinomas, and HepG2 hepatocarcinoma, in a dose-dependent manner. This compound is not hypercalcemic, does not cause detectable toxicities in liver, kidney, or blood chemistry in mice at a dose as high as 30 μg/kg. In contrast, both 25(OH)D(3) and 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) caused severe hypercalcemia at a dose of 2 μg/kg.

Conclusion: 20(OH)D(3) possesses high efficacy for inhibiting Cancer cell proliferation in vitro and is non-toxic in vivo, supporting its further development as a potential Anticancer therapeutic agent.

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