Calcium, Vitamin D and the Vitamin D Receptor: Impact on Prostate and Breast Cancer in Preclinical Models

Contrary to the hypothesis, dietary calcium had no effect on urogenital morphology, tumor weight, or histological grade in LPB-Tag transgenic mice studied at 5, 7, or 9 weeks of age.7 Collectively, these three studies have demonstrated that high dietary calcium does not aggravate or accelerate prostate tumor growth or progression in animal models, and therefore do not support the concept that dietary calcium per se influences prostate cancer risk. Ongoing studies in this model should provide insight into the mechanism of action of synthetic vitamin D analogs that display enhanced anti-tumor actions yet reduced calcemic potency, as well as the molecular mechanisms by which the VDR mediates such a wide spectrum of biologic effects in vivo.