Developmental Vitamin D availability impacts hematopoietic stem cell production

Vitamin D insufficiency is a global epidemic and despite its high incidence the impact of Vitamin D signaling beyond calcium-bone regulation is not fully understood. To expand our analysis of the impact of 1,25(OH)D3 on hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) production and function in zebrafish and human umbilical cord blood (hUCB), we performed a microarray study to indentify signaling pathways downstream of 1,25(OH)D3 stimulation in hUCB CD34+ cells. Microarray analysis was performed to identify downstream targets of Vitamin D signaling in human umbilical cord blood (hUCB) CD34+ cells. We compared the expression profile of hUCB HSCs, split and treated ex vivo for 4 hrs with 1,25(OH)D3 at 1mM, with matched vehicle (DMSO) controls. This treatment lead to the identification of 407 differentially expressed genes.