Review
New insights into the role of vitamin D in hepatocellular carcinoma
Dong-Bo Wu, Meng-Lan Wang, En-Qiang Chen & Hong Tang
Pages 287-294 | Received 24 Aug 2017, Accepted 14 Nov 2017, Accepted author posted online: 15 Nov 2017, Published online: 21 Nov 2017
Introduction: In addition to being crucial for host immune defense, vitamin D is involved in cell proliferation, apoptosis, differentiation, inflammation, invasion and metastasis, angiogenesis and micro-RNA modulation. To date, clinical studies have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is common not only in patients with chronic liver diseases but also in those with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Experimental studies have also showed that vitamin D and its receptors are related to the occurrence of HCC and the prognoses of patients with HCC.
Areas covered: in this review, we discuss the potential anti-tumor role of vitamin D in HCC based on current findings from epidemiological studies, basic science, and clinical studies and provide new insights into the pathogenesis and treatment of HCC.
Expert commentary: Recent studies have revealed the anti-tumor effects of vitamin D to a certain degree. Vitamin D and its analogs may provide new treatment targets and prognostic factors for HCC that might be essential for the primary or secondary prevention of HCC and the monitoring of its progression.
KEYWORDS: Chronic liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, vitamin D, deficiency, treatment target
Additional information
Funding
This work was supported by grants from the Science and Technology Support Program of the Sichuan Province, China (2015SZ0049). 作者: StephenW 时间: 2018-2-9 21:57
