%0 Journal Article
%T Vitamin D, Sunlight and Prostate Cancer Risk
%A Krishna Vanaja Donkena
%A Charles Y. F. Young
%J Advances in Preventive Medicine
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.4061/2011/281863
%X Prostate cancer is the second common cancer in men worldwide. The prevention of prostate cancer remains a challenge to researchers and clinicians. Here, we review the relationship of vitamin D and sunlight to prostate cancer risk. Ultraviolet radiation of the sunlight is the main stimulator for vitamin D production in humans. Vitamin D's antiprostate cancer activities may be involved in the actions through the pathways mediated by vitamin D metabolites, vitamin D metabolizing enzymes, vitamin D receptor (VDR), and VDR-regulated genes. Although laboratory studies including the use of animal models have shown that vitamin D has antiprostate cancer properties, whether it can effectively prevent the development and/or progression of prostate cancer in humans remains to be inconclusive and an intensively studied subject. This review will provide up-to-date information regarding the recent outcomes of laboratory and epidemiology studies on the effects of vitamin D on prostate cancer prevention. 1. Introduction The World Health Organization (http://globocan.iarc.fr/factsheets/cancers/prostate.asp) indicates that prostate cancer is the second most frequently diagnosed cancer in men (903,000 new cases) and has about 258,000 deaths of this cancer worldwide in 2008. The highest incident rates are among the countries of Australia/New Zealand Western, Northern Europe, and Northern America, and the lowest age-matched incidence rates are those in South-central Asia. In the USA alone, the American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/ProstateCancer/DetailedGuide/prostate-cancer-key-statistics) estimated death and newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer were 32,050 and 217,730 men, respectively, in year 2010. Moreover, in USA, the total medical expenditure for prostate cancer treatment was estimated as $1.3 billion in year 2000, which represents a 30% increase compared to that in 1994. In year 2004, 2.3 billion was estimated for prostate cancer alone [1]. As being a prevalent cancer disease in men, current total cost for PCa prostate cancer treatments in USA would much exceed $2.3 billion. Until now, etiology of prostate cancer is still largely unknown. However, it has been suggested that there are several potential risk factors that may change incidence rates of this cancer, including diet/nutrition, physical activities, and others [2, 3]. Epidemiologic and laboratory studies in nutrition and diet as modifiable risk factors seem to build strong concepts of cancer chemoprevention, a strategy seeking the reduction of cancer risk by the use of chemical agents
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/apm/2011/281863/