No Association of Vitamin D Pathway Genetic Variants with Cancer Risks in a Population-Based Cohort of German Older Adults

Several investigations assessed the association of vitamin D receptor (VDR) SNPs with cancer risk. Less is known about the implications of other vitamin D pathway SNPs on cancer risk. In a population-based cohort study of 9,949 German older adults, we used Cox regression to assess the association of 6 SNPs in the , vitamin D-binding protein ( ), 7-dehydrocholesterol reductase ( ), vitamin D 25-hydroxylase ( ), and vitamin D 24-hydroxylase ( ) genes with total and site-specific cancer incidence endpoints. Overall, no association of SNPs with cancer incidence endpoints was observed, except for a genotype score based on SNPs associated with lower 25(OH)D, which was associated with higher lung cancer risk [HR, 1.20; 95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.03-1.39], although this was no longer significant after correcting for multiple testing. Our data provide little to no evidence of a major influence of vitamin D genetic predisposition on cancer risks. Large-scale genetic epidemiology consortia and meta-analysis of smaller published studies are needed to verify a potential modest influence of genetic variation in the association of vitamin D with the risk of cancer. .