Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Vitamin D mitigates atherosclerosis risk in TNF-α-induced endothelial cells

Burak Onal¹ , Merve Alayl?oglu², Erdinc Dursun^2,3, Duygu Gezen-Ak²

¹Biruni University Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Pharmacology, Istanbul, Turkey; ²Brain and Neurodegenerative Disorders Research Laboratories, Department of Medical Biology, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey; ³Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Istanbul, Turkey.

For correspondence:- Burak Onal Email: burakonal@yandex.com.tr

Accepted: 6 March 2022 Published: 28 April 2022

Citation: Onal B, Alayl?oglu M, Dursun E, Gezen-Ak D. Vitamin D mitigates atherosclerosis risk in TNF-α-induced endothelial cells. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(4):701-706 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i4.3

© 2022 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the effect of vitamin D on endothelial function in a cell line model of inflammation.

Methods: Human saphenous vein cells were treated with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-OHD) and/or TNF-α, and the expression levels of 20 different atherosclerotic cytokines were examined in the treated cells using a human atherosclerosis antibody array. The STRING and PANTHER analyses were also performed to determine the possible pathway interactions of these four pro-atherosclerotic and two anti-atherosclerotic cytokines.

Results: The expression levels of pro-atherosclerotic cytokines GM-CSF, CCL20, CCL5, and TNF-α decreased upon 1,25-OHD administration, whereas those of anti-atherosclerotic cytokines PDGFB and TGF-β3 increased.

Conclusion: Vitamin D could mitigate cardiovascular risks by mediating the expression of inflammatory cytokines; however, this needs to be verified via in vivo studies.

Keywords: Atherosclerosis, Cytokines, Vitamin D, Inflammation, TNF-alpha