Pancreatic cancer is the 11th most common malignant neoplasm worldwide. The mortality rate for patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is nearly 75% within one year of diagnosis, with the 5-year survival rate being less than 6% as more than 80% of PDAC patients are diagnosed at advanced stage. The only curative therapeutic option is radical surgery which offers long-term survival but it is only applicable in early tumor stages.
This highlights the need for discovery of new prognostic markers and diagnostic modalities to allow for better management of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients. With recent advancements in research that focus on tumor biology and behavior, a direct association between vitamin D and cancer risk was suggested.
The active form of vitamin D (calcitriol) binds to vitamin D receptor(VDR), and translocates to the nucleus to activate vitamin D response element (VDRE), which activates transcription of numerous genes involved in a myriad of cellular functions and processes. Impaired vitamin D activities have been widely implicated in human cancer.