title: Shedding light on serum vitamin D concentrations and the risk of rarer cancers.
abstract: Cancer is a broad term for many disparate diseases with different etiologies, commonly classified by affected organ site. This review summarizes the published evidence from prospective cohort studies examining the associations between vitamin D, measured as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) concentrations, and the risk of rarer cancer sites including pancreatic, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovarian, endometrial, kidney, gastric and esophageal cancer. Overall, evidence from prospective cohort studies provides little support for a protective association between adequate or higher serum 25OHD concentrations and risk of these rarer cancer sites. Additionally, controversy persists concerning a potential increased risk of pancreatic cancer associated with serum 25OHD levels > 100 nmol/L due to conflicting results reported by two large prospective pooling projects.
authors.affiliation: The Prevention and Research Center, 227 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA. khelzlsouer@mdmercy.com
authors.forename: Kathy J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Helzlsouer
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gallicchio
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014807:Vitamin D