Book review
https://doi.org/10.3325/cmj.2022.63.187
Vitamin D in liver cancer: novel insights and future perspectives
Antonio Markotić
; Department of Physiology, University of Mostar School of Medicine, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tomislav Kelava
; Department of Physiology, University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
Helena Markotić
; Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Mostar, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hrvoje Silovski
; Department of Surgery, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Anna Mrzljak
; Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Vitamin D has been a focus of attention in liver cancer due
to its direct and indirect antineoplastic effects. This review
critically evaluates data from recently published basic and
clinical studies investigating the role of vitamin D in liver
cancer. Basic studies indicate that vitamin D plays an important role in liver cancer development by suppressing
the activity of hepatic stellate cells and Kupffer cells. Furthermore, vitamin D has a direct anti-proliferative, anti-angiogenic, proapoptotic, and prodifferentiative effect on liver
cancer cells. Recent investigation suggested several interesting mechanisms of these actions, such as inactivation
of Notch signaling, p27 accumulation, and tyrosine-protein kinase Met/extracellular signal-regulated kinases inhibition. On the other hand, data from clinical observational
studies, although promising, are still inconclusive. Unfortunately, studies on the effect of vitamin D supplementation
were generally focused on short-term outcomes of chronic liver diseases (liver enzyme levels or elastographic finding); therefore, there are still no reliable data on the effect
of vitamin D supplementation on liver cancer occurrence
or survival.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
279014
URI
Publication date:
21.4.2022.
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