Vitamin D-receptor polymorphism may increase melanoma risk, research suggests.

Daily Diagnosis
Vitamin D-receptor polymorphism may increase melanoma risk, research suggests.
HealthDay (9/22, Preidt) reported that a paper appearing in the Nov. 1 issue of Cancer suggests that there is a "possible link between melanoma and a gene involved in vitamin D metabolism," which "has been identified by Italian researchers." Previous studies have shown "that vitamin D has significant protective effects against the development of cancer, because it regulates cells growth, cell differentiation, and cell death." There is "also evidence that sun exposure, which triggers the body to produce vitamin D, can have anti-cancer effects." HealthDay explained that "Vitamin D works by binding to a receptor in cells," and researchers at the University of Padova chose to focus on that process.
They conducted "meta-analyses of existing studies" that examined a "higher risk of developing melanoma (as well as all other cancer types), depending upon gene polymorphisms," Medscape (9/22, Mulcahy) added. Initially, they looked at seven studies that "addressed the issue of" vitamin D-receptor (VDR) gene "polymorphisms and cancer risk," but "dropped one because the data overlapped with data from another study." In the end, the six "studies provided a total of 2,152 cases and 2,410 controls." The investigators discovered that "only Bsml was significantly associated with the risk of developing melanoma," while the "other polymorphisms of the VDR gene that were studied -- FokI, TaqI, EcoRV, and Cdx2 -- were not."
In fact, "individuals with the BsmI polymorphism had a 30 percent increase in the odds ratio for melanoma," MedPage Today (9/22, Bankhead) reported. The researchers also said that "their findings are consistent indirectly with the hypothesis that the BsmI polymorphism alters interaction between 1,25[OH]2D3 and the vitamin D receptor, thereby reducing 1,25[OH]2D3 levels or activity and increasing vulnerability to melanoma." They did concede, however, "that there is no current evidence of a functional effect of the polymorphism on vitamin D metabolism or the vitamin D receptor." Still, the "current evidence is in favor of the association between one [vitamin D receptor] gene polymorphism and the risk of melanoma development, although further work will be necessary to validate the risk identified in the current meta-analysis," the investigators concluded.