Role of Calcitriol and Cortisol on Human Adipocyte Proliferation and Oxidative and Inflammatory Stress: A Microarray Study

Dietary calcium inhibits adiposity, and a key underlying mechanism is suppression of calcitriol, which modulates Ca(2+) signaling and mitochondrial uncoupling in adipocytes. We demonstrated that calcitriol directly regulates adipocyte 11beta-HSD-1 expression and cortisol production in human adipocytes in vitro and dietary calcium inhibits visceral adipose tissue 11beta-HSD-1 expression in mice, indicating an interaction of calcitriol and cortisol in obesity. Consequently, we have evaluated the gene expression profile of human subcutaneous adipocytes treated with calcitriol and/or cortisone. Data analysis demonstrated significant calcitriol modulation of gene expression toward inhibition of the adipocyte apoptosis (e.g., VEGF and STC-2) and promotion of adipocyte proliferation (e.g., IGF-1 and IGF-1R). Calcitriol also up-regulated oxidative stress and inflammatory genes such as NOX-4 and TLR-3. The calcitriol/cortisone combination resulted in significant additional up-regulation of 11beta-HSD-1 and down-regulation of adiponectin expression, while cortisone exerted little independent effect in the absence of calcitriol. Overall, calcitriol stimulated a pattern of adipocyte gene expression which favored adipocyte proliferation, oxidative and inflammatory stress and visceral adiposity, and these effects were amplified in the presence of cortisone; however, this conclusion must be tempered by the adipocyte source (subcutaneous) and requires confirmation in visceral adipocytes.