Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a worse prognosis in metastatic melanoma.
Oncotarget. 2016 Dec 28. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.14316. [Epub ahead of print]
Timerman D1, McEnery-Stonelake M2, Joyce CJ3, Nambudiri VE4, Hodi FS5, Claus EB6, Ibrahim N5,7, Lin JY4,5.
1Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
2Department of Dermatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
3Department of Biostatistics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA.
4Department of Dermatology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
5Melanoma Program, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
6Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
7Merck Research Laboratories, Clinical Oncology, North Wales, PA, USA.
- "Patients with vitamin D deficiency were advised to take 50,000 IU vitamin D3 per week for 8 weeks and then continue on 4,000 IU per week"
- 4,000 IU per day is barely enough to maintain levels, 4,000 IU per week is amazingly low
- There would have been far fewer deaths if patients has been given enough vitamin D for their weight, other health problems, etc. etc. and has been given cofactors, such as Magnesium and Boron, to increase the response to the amount of vitamin D which was given
See also VitaminDWiki
- Malignant melanoma may be reduced by skin-activated vitamin D – Nov 2016
Topical/direct application of vitamin D also helps -in addition to oral - Overview Suntan, melanoma and vitamin D
- Alzheimer disease 5X less likely with nonmelanoma skin cancer (lots of vitamin D) – May 2013
- Melanoma risk 2X to 4X higher if Vitamin D receptor genes had morphed – March 2014
- Vitamin D supplementation - Grassroots Jan 2013
Does not include cofactors to increase the response, nor loading dose to speed up the response
Intervention AND Cancer - Skin
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
Observation by VitaminDWiki: Only one case of MM when raising vitamin D levels
by 40 nanograms, independent of the starting level
Vitamin D deficiency (=20 ng/mL) is associated with an increased incidence and worse prognosis of various types of cancer including melanoma. A retrospective, single-center study of individuals diagnosed with melanoma from January 2007 through June 2013 who had a vitamin D (25(OH)D3) level measured within one year of diagnosis was performed to determine whether vitamin D deficiency and repletion are associated with melanoma outcome. A total of 409 individuals diagnosed with histopathology-confirmed melanoma who had an ever measured serum 25(OH)D3 level were identified. 252 individuals with a 25(OH)D3 level recorded within one year after diagnosis were included in the study and the individual and melanoma characteristics such as age, sex, Breslow thickness, ulceration, stage, mitotic rate, and LDH were obtained from the medical record. A worse melanoma prognosis was associated with vitamin D deficiency (P=0.012), higher stage (P<0.001), ulceration (P=0.001), and higher mitotic rate (P=0.001) (HR 1.93, 95% CI 1.15-3.22). In patients with stage IV metastatic melanoma, vitamin D deficiency was associated with significantly worse melanoma-specific mortality (adjusted HR 2.06, 95% CI 1.10-3.87).
Patients with metastatic melanoma who were initially vitamin D deficient and subsequently had a decrease or =20 ng/mL increase in their 25(OH)D3 concentration had significantly worse outcomes (HR 4.68, 95% CI 1.05-20.88) compared to non-deficient patients who had a >20 ng/mL increase. Our results suggest that initial vitamin D deficiency and insufficient repletion is associated with a worse prognosis in patients with metastatic melanoma.
PMID: 28036288 DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.14316