The Role of Vitamin D and the Vitamin D Receptor in Bone Oncology

Abstract

SummaryVitamin D deficiency is a global health problem of enormous and increasing dimensions. In the past decades, numerous studies have centered on the role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis and course of many diseases including several types of cancer. Indeed, vitamin D has been widely acknowledged to be involved in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis in numerous cancer cells. While the full range of molecular mechanisms involveld in cancer cell growth and progression remains to be elucidated, recent research has deepened our understanding of the processes that may be affected by vitamin D or vitamin D deficiency.In this review, we consider the properties of bone that enable cancer cells to grow and thrive within the skeleton, and the role of vitamin D and the vitamin D receptor in the process of primary and secondary cancer growth in bone.

Vitamin D Deficiency Is Frequent in Patients with Rapidly Destructive Osteoarthritis—Data from a Single-Center Analysis

“…Over the past decades, research on vitamin D has been progressively more popular, which has led to a plethora of studies investigating potential health-beneficial effects of vitamin D [ 15 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Consequently, it is now known that vitamin D impacts a multitude of diseases, including many orthopaedic disorders [ 16 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]. Thus, it is conceivable that vitamin D deficiency might also play a role in the onset and progression of RDO.…”

“…The process of bone remodelling is a life-long and susceptible continuum aiming to break down old mechanically unnecessary bone and replace the removed tissue with an equal amount of newly formed bone [ 15 ]. Under physiological conditions, resident osteoclasts and osteoblasts continuously remove and replace bone in a well-orchestrated manner [ 16 ]. Persistently low vitamin D status leads to an increase in bone turnover via the upregulation of parathyroid hormone (PTH).…”