VEGFA and diabetic retinopathy: By contrast, 1α,25(OH)2D3 downregulates hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 and VEGF protein expression in several human colon, prostate and breast cancer cell lines (Ben-Shoshan et al., 2007), decreases VEGF production by human lumbar annulus cells (Gruber et al., 2008), and protects against diabetic retinopathy in rats by inhibiting VEGF expression in the retina (Ren et al., 2012).