title: Prognostic effects of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in gastric cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Results from large epidemiologic studies on the association between vitamin D and gastric cancer are controversial. Vitamin D significantly promotes apoptosis in the undifferentiated gastric cancer cell, but the prognostic effects of its levels are unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  197 gastric carcinoma patients who received treatment in the cancer centre of Sun Yat-sen University from January 2002 to January 2006 were involved in the study. The stored blood drawn before any treatment was assayed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. The clinicopathologic data were collected to examine the prognostic effects of vitamin D.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean vitamin D levels of the 197 gastric patients was 49.85 ± 23.68 nmol/L, among whom 114(57.9%) were deficient in Vitamin D(< 50 nmol/L), 67(34%) were insufficient (50-75 nmol/L) and 16(8.1%) were sufficient (> 75 nmol/L). Clinical stage (P = 0.004) and lymph node metastasis classification (P = 0.009) were inversely associated with vitamin D levels. The patients with high vitamin D levels group (≥ 50 nmol/L) had a higher overall survival compared with the low vitamin D levels group (< 50 nmol/L)(P = 0.018). Multivariate analysis indicated that vitamin D levels were an independent prognostic factor of gastric cancer (P = 0.019).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vitamin D deficiency may be associated with poor prognosis in gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Miao-zhen
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: De-shen
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hui-yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Dong-sheng
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhi-qiang
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Feng-hua
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu-hong
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhi-wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Rui-hua
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D; C104450:25-hydroxyvitamin D