REVIEW article
Front. Genet.
Sec. Nutritional Genomics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1598525
This article is part of the Research TopicGenes Involved in the Metabolism of Nutrients and Drugs, and Their Roles in Cancer, Immune Disorder and AgingView all articles
Key genes of vitamin D metabolism and their roles in the risk and prognosis of cancercancer
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital of Xinglin College, Nantong University,, Nanjing, China
- 3Key Laboratory of Elemene Anticancer Research, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
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Vitamin D is an essential vitamin for normal human metabolism and plays pivotal roles in various biological processes, such as maintaining calcium and phosphorus balance, regulating immune responses, and promoting cell differentiation while inhibiting proliferation. Vitamin D is obtained through sunlight exposure and diet, and is metabolized into its active form via hydroxylation in liver and kidney. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to various diseases, including skeletal disorders, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Recent epidemiology and oncology research have demonstrated that serum vitamin D level, as well as genetic polymorphisms and expression dysregulation of genes related with vitamin D metabolism, have significantly influences on the incidence and prognosis of various types of cancer, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, gastrointestinal malignancy, and hematologic malignancies. The mechanisms linking vitamin D metabolism dysregulation to malignancy are multifactorial, such as the alteration in cell metabolism, proliferation, differentiation, and tumor microenvironment. These findings suggest potential therapeutic benefits of targeting the vitamin D signaling pathway for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. However, there is still a lack of clinical applications regarding the knowledge of vitamin D metabolic pathway, and future research is urgently needed to illustrate the underlying mechanisms for the rationale design of clinical trials. Therefore, this review summarizes the metabolic pathways of vitamin D and its association with cancer, highlighting the importance of genetic polymorphisms and expression dysregulation of genes involved in vitamin D metabolism in cancer susceptibility and prognosis.While the traditional role of vitamin D in bone health remains well -established, emerging evidence has highlighted its involvement in many other physiological and pathological conditions. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with an increased risk of various diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, acute infections, chronic inflammatory diseases, and asthma. These associations suggest that vitamin D may have broader immunomodulatory, anti -inflammatory, and homeostatic functions in the body.
Keywords: Vitamin D, Metabolism, Cancer, 6, 7))
Received: 23 Mar 2025; Accepted: 04 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, Zhu, Wang, Hua, Ying and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jie Ying, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital of Xinglin College, Nantong University,, Nanjing, China
jianxiang Chen, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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