They evaluated the risk of benign uterine tumors associated with reduced levels of VDR protein in 40 patients and determined the biological function of 1.25 (OH) 2D3 in the regulation of proteins associated with the extracellular matrix, which are fundamental in the formation of leiomyomas, and found reduced VDR levels in more than 60 % of the uterine tumors analyzed compared with the adjacent myometrium. The gene discussed is VDR; the disease is leiomyoma.