Serum 25-OH vitamin D levels and risk of developing prostate cancer in older men

Abstract

ObjectiveMultiple studies have shown clear evidence of vitamin D’s anti-tumor effects on prostate cancer cells in laboratory experiments, but the evidence has not been consistent in humans. We sought to examine the association between vitamin D and prostate cancer risk in a cohort of older men.MethodsWe conducted a prospective case-cohort study nested within the multicenter Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study. Baseline serum 25-OH vitamin D was measured in a randomly selected sub-cohort of 1,433 men ≥65 years old without a history of prostate cancer and from all participants with an incident diagnosis of prostate cancer (n = 297). Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the associations between quartiles of total 25-OH vitamin D and incident prostate cancer, as well as Gleason score.ResultsIn comparison with the lowest quartile of 25-OH vitamin D, the hazard ratio for the highest quartile of 25-OH vitamin D was 1.22 (CI 0.50–1.72, p = 0.25), no trend across quartiles (p = 0.94) or association with Gleason score was observed. Adjustment for covariates did not alter the results.ConclusionsIn this prospective cohort of older men, we found no association between serum 25-OH vitamin D levels and subsequent risk of prostate cancer.

The roles of ultraviolet-B irradiance, vitamin D, apolipoprotein E ε4, and diet in the risk of prostate cancer

“…For example, the paper by Barnett et al [1] found no link in their recent study between prediagnostic serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and prostate cancer incidence in older men during a mean 5.3-year followup period [1]. This finding agrees with those of other recent reviews [2][3][4].…”

“…There is also good evidence that vitamin D improves survival for those diagnosed with prostate cancer (Refs. 34 and 35 in [1]). Thus, vitamin D appears to be important in reducing the risk of prostate cancer over many years, so measuring 25(OH)D levels shortly before diagnosis of prostate cancer may not provide an accurate indication of the overall effect of vitamin D on prostate cancer risk.…”

“…However, studies looking at prostate cancer incidence with respect to personal UVB irradiance ( [5] and Refs. 31-33 in [1]) offer some of the more convincing evidence for a role of UVB and vitamin D in reducing the risk of prostate cancer. These studies were based on earlylife and/or long-term UVB irradiance, and prostate cancer is a type of cancer that progresses very slowly.…”

Antineoplastic effects of 1,25(OH)2D3 and its analogs in breast, prostate and colorectal cancer

“…In most prediagnostic Nordic studies, an inverse association is found between 25(OH)D 3 levels and PC (Ahonen et al 2000). In contrast, several prediagnostic studies in the United States do not find this association (Travis et al 2009, Barnett et al 2010. Then again, in the Nordic studies almost half of the subjects were vitamin D 3 deficient compared with 20% in the US studies (Ahn et al 2008).…”

Vitamin D and Acute Myeloid Leukemia

“…This finding led to several epidemiologic observations linking subnormal vitamin D levels to increased risk of breast (Garland, Garland et al 1990), colorectal (Jenab, Buenode-Mesquita et al 2010) and prostate cancers (Barnett, Nielson et al 2010). Giovannucci et al performed a large prospective observational cohort study composed of 51,529 U.S. male healthcare providers and illustrated that low levels 25(OH) D 3 (<25nmol/L) were associated with increased cancer incidence and mortality in men.…”