Vitamin D and Cancer
Frontier Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2012; 3: 58.
Published online 2012 April 23. Prepublished online 2012 February 20. PMCID: PMC3355893
Laura Vuolo,1,* Carolina Di Somma,2 Antongiulio Faggiano,1 and Annamaria Colao1
Vitamin D system is a complex pathway that includes precursors, active metabolites, enzymes, and receptors.
This complex system actives several molecular pathways and mediates a multitude of functions.
In addition to the classical role in calcium and bone homeostasis, vitamin D plays “non-calcemic” effects in host defense, inflammation, immunity, and cancer processes as recognized in vitro and in vivo studies.
The aim of this review is to highlight the relationship between vitamin D and cancer, summarizing several mechanisms proposed to explain the potential protective effect of vitamin D against the development and progression of cancer.
Vitamin D acts like a transcription factor that influences central mechanisms of tumorigenesis: growth, cell differentiation, and apoptosis.
In addition to cellular and molecular studies, epidemiological surveys have shown that sunlight exposure and consequent increased circulating levels of vitamin D are associated with reduced reduced occurrence and a reduced mortality in different histological types of cancer.
Another recent field of interest concerns polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR); in this context, preliminary data suggest that VDR polymorphisms more frequently associated with tumorigenesis are Fok1, Bsm1, Taq1, Apa1, EcoRV, Cdx2; although further studies are needed to clarify their role in the cancer. In this review, the relationship between vitamin D and cancer is discussed.
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