Decreased 1-25 Dihydroxyvitamin D3 Concentration in Peripheral Blood Serum of Patients with Thyroid Cancer

Stepien, Tomasz; Krupinski, Roman; Sopinski, Jan; Kuzdak, Krzysztof; Komorowski, Jan; Lawnicka, Hanna; Stepien, Henryk

doi:10.1016/j.arcmed.2010.04.004

« Previous Next »Archives of Medical Research
Volume 41, Issue 3 , Pages 190-194, April 2010

Decreased 1-25 Dihydroxyvitamin D₃ Concentration in Peripheral Blood Serum of Patients with Thyroid Cancer

Tomasz Stepien
- Departament of Endocrine and General Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, Copernicus Memorial Hospital, Lodz, Poland
Roman Krupinski
- Departament of Endocrine and General Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, Copernicus Memorial Hospital, Lodz, Poland
Jan Sopinski
- Departament of Endocrine and General Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, Copernicus Memorial Hospital, Lodz, Poland
Krzysztof Kuzdak
- Departament of Endocrine and General Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, Copernicus Memorial Hospital, Lodz, Poland
Jan Komorowski
- Department of Clinical Endocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Hanna Lawnicka
- Department of Immunoendocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
Henryk Stepien
- Department of Immunoendocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
- Address reprint requests to: Prof. Dr. Henryk Stepien M.D., PhD., Department of Immunoendocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, ul. Dr. Sterling 3, 91-425, Lodz, Poland; Phone: +48426324854; FAX: +48426324854

Received 21 October 2009; accepted 30 March 2010.

(ARCMED-D-09-00512)

Background and Aims

Vitamin D₃, in addition to its role in calcium homeostasis, has been recognized as playing a role in human cancer development. However, little is known about the association between vitamin D status and the development of thyroid cancer. This study aimed to investigate vitamin D metabolism by measuring 25(OH) D₃, 1-25 (OH)₂ D₃, PTH and calcium concentrations in the peripheral blood of patients with different forms of thyroid tumors.

Methods

The 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ ,1-25- dihydoxyvitamin D₃, PTH and calcium serum levels of 50 consecutive patients with epithelial thyroid cancer 27 cases of papillary cancers (PTC), 16 follicular cancers (FTC), and seven cases of anaplastic cancers (ATC) and 34 multinodular nontoxic goiter (MNG) were measured by specific immunoassay. The control group consisted of 26 healthy volunteers.

Results

Our results revealed significantly lower 1-25 (OH)₂ D₃ concentration in the PTC group (22.67 pg/mL ± 8.12; p <0.05), FTC group (16.09 pg/mL ± 6.15; p <0.02) and ATC group (9.48 pg/mL ± 5.18; p <0.02). Levels of 1-25 (OH)₂ D₃ varied by cancer stage and were also significantly different. A significant decrease in circulating 1-25 (OH)₂ D₃ concentration was found in patients with stage I (24.12 pg/mL ± 6.77; p <0.05), stage II (16.93 pg/mL ± 4.55; p <0.05), stage III (12.44 ± 8.98; p <0.02) and in stage IVa (6.18 ± 2.22; p <0.01). There were no significant differences when comparing serum levels of 25(OH) D₃, PTH or calcium concentrations among individuals with multinodular goiter, thyroid cancer and age- and sex-matched control volunteers.