Education

B.A. in Psychology/Zoology, Pomona College, Claremont, C.A., 1978

Ph.D. in Biological Psychology, Downstate Medical Center, State University N.Y., 1985

Postdoctoral fellowship in Cancer Epidemiology, University of N.C. at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1985-1989

M.P.H. in Epidemiology, University of N.C. at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1988

Ph.D. in Epidemiology, University of N.C. at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1993

  In the United States, a new case of prostate cancer is diagnosed every three minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every fifteen minutes, making prostate cancer the most common non-skin cancer and, after lung cancer, the second most fatal. What clues can epidemiology provide about the cause of prostate cancer? We have suggested that the descriptive epidemiology of prostate cancer (i.e., the increas-ing risk with age, Black race, and residence at northern latitudes) resembles the descriptive epidemiology of vitamin D deficiency in the elderly. Human prostate cells are known to possess specific receptors for the hormonal form of vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2 D. We have shown that when human prostate cancer cells are exposed to 1,25(OH)2 D, 1,25(OH)2 D promotes their differentiation and inhibits their proliferation, invasive-ness, and metastasis. These findings have led to human clinical trials of 1,25(OH)2 D and 1,25(OH)2 D analogues as differentiation therapy for prostate cancer. We have recently demonstrated that prostate cells synthesize 1,25(OH)2 D from its prohormonal precursor, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D – an ability previously believed to be exclusive to kidney cells and keratinocytes. This autocrine synthesis of 1,25(OH)2 D opens new possibilities for prostate cancer prevention and therapy, because until it is bioactivated by prostate cells, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D is inactive and can be administered more safely than 1,25(OH)2 D. 

Synthesis of 1,25(OH)2 D. The kidney is the “classic” source of 1,25(OH)2 D. However, our recent findings have established that the prostate also synthesizes 1,25(OH)2 D from the prohormone, 25-OH-D. These findings suggest that 25-OH-D may be an effective therapy for prostate cancer because it is converted into the active hormone by prostatic cells.

Recent Publications

Phone: 336-716-7446
e-mail address: gschwart@wfubmc.edu

Updated 10/24/2007