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. 2024 Nov 27;16(23):4085.
doi: 10.3390/nu16234085.

Vitamin D and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma-A Review of a Complicated Relationship

Iustina Grosu  1 , Alexandru Constantinescu  2   3 , Mihaela Daniela Balta  2 , Ovidiu Băjenaru  2   4 , Cătălina Nuța  2   4 , Christopher Pavel  5 , Vasile Sandru  5 , Mihai Munteanu  6 , Octavian Andronic  2   7
Affiliations

Vitamin D and Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma-A Review of a Complicated Relationship

Iustina Grosu et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Introduction: From the observation of a negative relationship between UV-B exposure and cancer rates, we hypothesized that vitamin D (VD) may play a protective role in oncogenesis. Moreover, repurposing a well-known and relatively safe drug for conditions with dismal prospects, such as pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is a tempting idea. Thus, we aimed to summarize the current knowledge regarding the role of VD in the prevention and treatment of PDAC.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of VD and PDAC using Medline-indexed studies accessed through PubMed as the primary data source. This study aimed to identify articles focusing on the role of VD as a risk and prognostic factor for PDAC, mechanistic studies evaluating the effects of VD or vitamin D analogs (VDAs) in PDAC models, and clinical trials on VDAs in PDAC. After the screening, 97 studies were included in the final manuscript.

Conclusion: Even though the results from epidemiologic studies were contradictory, basic research has demonstrated that VD can act on PDAC cells either directly, inhibiting proliferation, apoptosis, EMT, migration, invasion, and stemness, or indirectly, through stromal remodeling. A better understanding of the consequences of VD-induced tumor-stroma cross-talk alterations is needed to determine whether VD/VDAs can be used to our own advantage in the treatment of PDAC.

Keywords: cancer associated fibroblasts; epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma; stromal remodeling; tumor microenvironment; vitamin D; vitamin D receptor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow-chart depicting the search strategy employed for article selection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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