Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and prostate cancer risk

BACKGROUND. Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that is thought to play a role in the etiology and progression of Prostate cancer. Hormone activity requires binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR), which contains several genetic polymorphisms that have been associated with risk of prostate cancer. To further evaluate this relationship, we conducted a population-based case-control study of the VDR BsmI, FokI, and Poly-A polymorphisms, and prostate cancer. METHODS. Germline DNA samples and survey data from incident prostate cancer cases (n = 559) and controls (n = 523) of similar age (40-64 years) without a history of the disease who resided in King County, Washington were analyzed. RESULTS. The frequency of the BsmI, FokI, and Poly-A genotypes were similar in cases and controls, and no overall association between any variants and prostate cancer risk were noted. Stratification by clinical features of disease revealed that among men with localized stage disease, the BsmI bb genotype was associated with a modest increase in risk (OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.02 - 2.17; P = 0.04) compared to the BB genotype. CONCLUSIONS. These results suggest that polymorphisms in the VDR gene are not strong predictors of prostate cancer risk among Caucasian men in the U.S. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.