Association of Vitamin D With Prostate Carcinoma: A Single Institutional Observational Study

Background: Recent studies highlight a role for vitamin D (VD) in the growth and differentiation of various cell types. The biologically active form of vitamin D3 is 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. Most cells of the body including prostate cells have vitamin D receptor (VDR) and VD metabolizing enzymes, and can respond to 1,25-VD. Literature supports multipronged effects of 1,25-VD in the prevention of prostate carcinoma development and progression. However, the relationship between prostate carcinoma and VD is still not entirely understood. There are no studies conducted on the association of VD and prostate carcinoma among the Asian population and our study is the first of its kind in literature and hence the need for the same. Methods: All men more than 50 years of age who presented to our hospital between July 2015 and July 2017 with lower urinary tract symptom (LUTS), and had a suspicious digital rectal examination (DRE) and hypoechoic areas on transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), were considered for the study. Those patients whose biopsies came as malignancy were taken as study subjects and patients with a negative biopsy were taken as controls. VD and serum prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) was done for all patients undergoing biopsy. Results: Eighty-six men underwent prostate biopsy for suspicious DRE with hypoechoic areas on TRUS. Out of the 86 men, 66 men had a positive histopathology, suggestive of adenocarcinoma of the prostate gland (group A), and the remaining 20 men (group B) had a negative biopsy. All patients diagnosed with malignancy had severe VD deficiency and was found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: VD deficiency is a risk factor for development of prostate carcinoma and there is a strong correlation between them. Further trials are however required to study the effect of VD supplementation on the natural course of the disease. World J Nephrol Urol. 2017;6(3-4):21-24 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/wjnu317w