Vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression is not a prognostic factor in breast cancer

Breast cancer is characterized by its early haematogenous dissemination. Current modalities of risk assessment in lymph node-negative patients, to determine which patients should receive adjuvant chemotherapy, are not effective. The aim of this study was to analyze whether vitamin D receptor (VDR) status is a prognostic factor that may be of importance for the assessment of recurrence in breast cancer. VDR expression was analyzed immunohistochemically in breast cancer patients (n=228). No statistically significant correlations were found comparing VDR expression with histopathological data (tumor stage, lymph node status, grading, histological tumor type), with the expression of estrogen receptors (ER) or progesterone receptors (PR), with the proliferation marker Ki-67, with the tumor suppressor gene p53 or with the S-phase index. Our findings indicate that VDR protein expression is not a prognostic factor in breast cancer. The strong VDR immunoreactivity that we observed in breast cancer specimens supports the body of evidence that breast cancer may be a target for therapeutically applied vitamin D analogues.