Fig. 3From: Vitamin D3 stimulates embryonic stem cells but inhibits migration and growth of ovarian cancer and teratocarcinoma cell lines1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 induces apoptosis of human ovarian cancer cells in vitro. Panel a The A2780 human ovarian cancer cell line was treated with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 at concentrations ranging from 10â10â10â8 M for 16 h, and apoptosis was detected using the AnnexinVâFITC apoptosis kit and analyzed using flow cytometry. The data shown here indicate the induction of significant early apoptosis in cells treated with 10â9 M 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 compared with cells treated with vehicle only. In this experiment, 10 % DMSO was used as positive control. The means of two experiments in triplicate were used. For statistical comparisons, a one-way analysis of variance and a Tukeyâs test for post hoc analysis were carried out, and meansâ±âSD are shown. Significance level: *pââ€â0.05 versus control (untreated) cells. Panel b In parallel, treatment of the A2780 human ovarian cancer cell line with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 led to inhibition of phosphorylation of the p42/44 MAPK and AKTser473 intracellular pathway proteins in dose-dependent responses. Human ovarian cancer cells (2 Ă 106 cells/mL) were incubated for 12 h in RPMI with 0.5 % BSA culture medium containing either 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 at various concentrations (10â10â10â8 M) or vehicle only. The experiment was carried out twice with similar results, and representative blots are shownBack to article page