Effect of vitamin D on gene expression in human alveolar type II cells

To test whether vitamin D has a functionally important effect upon primary alveolar epithelial type II cells we used gene expression microarray to identify genes that are regulated by 25-dihydroxyvitamin D in adult alveolar type II cells. Alveolar type II (ATII) cells were obtained from lung resection tissue specimens of 4 adults. 0.5 Million cells were seeded onto 24 well plates in DCCM-1 (Biological Industries Ltd. Kibbutz Beit-Haemek, Israel) media supplemented with 10% fetal calf serum (FCS). The cells were cultured for 48 hours in vitro before treating with 100nmol/l of 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D in medium containing 0.1% FCS for further 24 hours. Before stimulation with 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D for 24 hours, cells were serum starved overnight (0.1% FCS). ATII cells without vitamin D treatment were used as control.