title: Clinical trials using chemopreventive vitamin D analogs in breast cancer.
abstract: This article comprehensively reviews the clinical trials and considers the future directions of the use of vitamin D and its analogs in the treatment or chemoprevention of breast cancer. Chemopreventive treatment strategies strive to delay the onset of certain cancers, prevent the progression of malignant disease after diagnosis, or delay the advent of recurrence after curative treatment. We first summarize the epidemiological evidence that led to the hypothesis that vitamin D may have an anti-cancer activity. Vitamin D shows great potential as a therapy for breast cancer; however, its use in clinical trials has been hindered by the induction of hypercalcemia at a concentration required to suppress cancer cell proliferation. This has led to the development of less calcemic analogs of vitamin D. We review the clinical trials with breast cancer patients using vitamin D analogs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, UC Davis Cancer Center, Sacramento, California 95817, USA. vijay@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Srinivasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vijayakumar
authors.forename: Philip S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Boerner
authors.forename: Rajeshwari R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Packianathan
authors.forename: Rajendra G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Tapas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Das Gupta
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D