Vitamin D Deficiency Is Widespread in Cancer Patients and Correlates With Advanced Stage Disease: A Community Oncology Experience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to correlate serum vitamin D levels with potential clinical variables and to determine the extent of vitamin D deficiency in a large, outpatient oncology practice. One hundred ninety-five consecutive patients referred for consultation at a community radiation oncology center from October 8, 2008 to March 17, 2010 had vitamin D levels ordered. Patients who were deficient in vitamin D were treated with replacement therapy. Demographic and medical data were collected prospectively and subsequently analyzed. Pretreatment baseline patient and tumor characteristics were evaluated with respect to vitamin D concentrations. One hundred and sixty patients were analyzed. A total of 74% of patients had 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations considered either deficient (<20 ng/mL) or suboptimal (20-30 ng/mL). Replacement therapy raised serum vitamin D levels by an average of 15 ng/mL (95% CI = 11-18, P < 0.01). Lower than median serum vitamin D levels were associated with stage III disease in univariate analysis [OR = 2.6 (95% CI = 1.1-6.2), p = 0.04] as well as multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, and season of draw [OR = 3.3 (95% CI = 1.1-9.7), P = 0.03]. Three-quarters of patients in our series had suboptimal or deficient circulating concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Low serum vitamin D levels, independent of age, sex, and body mass index, predicted advanced stage disease.

Vitamin D Receptor Gene BsmI and FokI Polymorphisms in Relation to Ovarian Cancer Risk in the Polish Population

“…The VDR has been found in various tissues, including cardiac myocytes, b-cells in the pancreas, immune cells, and other peripheral tissues that indicate the broad role of 1,25(OH) 2 D 3 in human (Churilla et al, 2012). Reduced vitamin D status has been associated with either poor prognosis or development of lung, thyroid, breast, gastric, colon, and head and neck cancers (Cheng and Neuhouser, 2012;Imtiaz et al, 2012;Orell-Kotikangas et al, 2012;Pereira et al, 2012;Roskies et al, 2012;Ren et al, 2012).…”

Chemoprevention Activity of 25-Hydroxyvitamin D in the MMTV-PyMT Mouse Model of Breast Cancer

“…Vitamin D deficiency is not only widespread in patients with cancer, but correlates with advanced-stage disease independently of age, sex, and body mass index (47). Vitamin D deficiency also enhances human breast cancer cell lines growth and metastasis in xenograft models (48)(49)(50) and increases the incidence of chemically induced mammary lesions in rats (51).…”

Polymorphic variants in the vitamin D pathway genes and the risk of ovarian cancer among non-carriers of BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations

“…The particularly significant protective role of vitamin D has been demonstrated in the context of the development and progression of various malignancies (18). Inadequate plasma levels of vitamin D have been associated with poor prognosis or development of head and neck cancers, thyroid, lung, liver, breast, gastric and colon cancers (19-25).…”