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Vitamin D Receptor Signaling and Cancer

Moray J Campbell1, Donald L Trump2

  • 1Division of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University, 536 Parks Hall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America
|October 30, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Vitamin D compounds show promise for cancer treatment by regulating cell growth via the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Further genomic data analysis is needed to clarify their anticancer mechanisms and optimize clinical use.

Area of Science:

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Oncology

Background:

  • The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a nuclear receptor that binds 1,25(OH)2D3, regulating genes involved in calcium homeostasis, cell proliferation, and differentiation.
  • The VDR pathway is a significant area of interest for cancer therapy, with preclinical studies showing encouraging results.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the potential of vitamin D compounds as anticancer agents.
  • To address the equivocal findings from clinical trials and identify precise anticancer actions of vitamin D compounds.

Main Methods:

  • Review of preclinical studies on VDR and cancer.
  • Analysis of existing clinical trial data.
  • Proposed mining of genomic data to refine understanding of VDR's anticancer roles.

Main Results:

  • Preclinical studies suggest VDR activation has anticancer effects.
  • Clinical trials investigating vitamin D compounds for cancer have yielded inconsistent results, hindering clinical translation.
  • Genomic data mining is proposed as a method to better understand VDR's anticancer mechanisms.

Conclusions:

  • While preclinical data is promising, clinical application of VDR-targeting compounds in cancer is currently limited by equivocal trial outcomes.
  • Further research, particularly through genomic data analysis, is crucial to elucidate the specific anticancer functions of vitamin D compounds and identify optimal therapeutic strategies.
Keywords:
ChemopreventionChemotherapyGenomicsTCGAVitamin D

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