Vitamin D and skin cancer: a meta-analysis

A comprehensive bibliographic search of the literature was conducted to identify studies on Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma (CMM) and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC), Vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms, Vitamin D intake and 25(OH)D serum levels. Fully adjusted risk estimates were found and extracted for the two polymorphisms FokI and BsmI and Vitamin D intake. Ten studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total of 6805 skin cancer cases. We found an association with CMM for both polymorphisms. The summary relative risks (SRR) for the studies on CMM were: 1.21 (1.03-1.42) and 1.21 (0.95-1.54) for the Ff and ff versus wild-type of FokI, respectively. The SRR for ff versus wild-type became significant with the inclusion of NMSC. The SRR for the studies on CMM were: 0.78 (0.65-0.92) and 0.75 (0.59-0.95) for the Bb and BB versus wild-type of BsmI, respectively. There is also a slight indication of a role of dietary Vitamin D in CMM development. In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests a possible significant role of VDR FokI and BsmI polymorphism in CMM and NMSC risk. The association with Vitamin D intake is less clear and further studies could be useful to clarify the role of diet.