The relevance of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphisms for cancer: a review of the literature.

In recent years, the relevance of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene restriction fragment length polymorphisms for various types of cancer has been investigated by a great number of studies. It has been hypothesized that VDR polymorphisms may influence both the risk of cancer occurrence and prognosis. However, studies investigating the associations between specific VDR polymorphisms and cancer often show controversial results. We have now performed a systematic review of the literature to analyse the relevance of VDR polymorphisms for individual malignancies, including cancer of the skin, prostate, breast, colon, ovary, kidney and bladder.