Vitamin D Metabolites and Cancer

Vitamin D and cancer risks in two cohorts

Recent experimental and epidemiologic studies of cancers of the breast, colon, rectum, prostate and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, suggest that vitamin D metabolites may help prevent cancer or cancer mortality. We undertook the first study to examine the prospective relationship between the vitamin D status metabolite, 25-hydroxyvitamin D in serum and cancer mortality. The study was conducted in more than 15000 persons aged 17 and older who participated in the Third National Health and Nutiriton Exmaination survey (NHANES III). It found total cancer mortality was unrelated to baseline vitamin D status in the entire population, men, women, non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, Mexican Americans in persons younger than 70 or 70 years or older. We found no interaction between vitamin D and season or vitamin D and serum retinol. Colorectal cancer mortality was inversely related to serum 25(OH)D level. Another study is examining the relationship between two vitamin D metabolites (25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)D) and breast cancer in Prostate, Lung, Colon, and Ovarian screening study cohort. We are also examining the relationship between pre-diagnositc 25(OH)D and lymphoid cancer risk in a case-control study nested in the Alpha-Tocopherol Beta Carotene Prevention Study cohort of Finnish smokers. Investigators in REB are also participating in a large pooled analysis of the association between 25(OH)D and several cancers, including pancreatic, upper GI, renal, endometrial, and ovarian cancer and NHL.