Low levels of vitamin D in the blood double the risk of developing
bladder cancer, Spanish researchers reported recently. The low levels
increase the risk of the most aggressive form of the disease almost
six-fold, the researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Spain
has about 11,000 new cases of bladder cancer per year, one of the
highest rates in the world. The United States has about 73,500 new cases
per year, with nearly 15,000 deaths. It is primarily a disease of the
elderly, with nine out of 10 victims over the age of 55.
Low
levels of vitamin D have previously been linked to increased risk of
breast and colon cancer, but no one has studied the potential
association with bladder cancer, according to Dr. Nuria Malats, a
geneticist at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center.
The
team collected blood samples from 1,125 patients with bladder cancer in
18 Spanish hospitals and from 1,028 individuals with no sign of the
disease. They measured levels of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3, the most stable
form of the vitamin. The team found that those with the lowest levels of
the vitamin were 1.83 times as likely to have bladder cancer as those
with the highest levels. When the team separated out patients with the
most aggressive form of invasive bladder cancer, they found that those
with the lowest vitamin levels were 5.94 times as likely to develop the
disease.
Molecular studies also showed that vitamin D regulates
the production of a protein, FGFR3, that plays a role in bladder cancer.
the risk of developing invasive bladder cancer was highest in patients
with the lowest levels of the protein and the lowest levels of vitamin
D.
"These results indicate that high levels of the vitamin are
associated with protection from the illness or, similarly, that low
levels are associated with a higher risk of suffering from it," Malats
said.
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