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Seasonal variation in expression of markers in the vitamin D pathway in prostate tissue

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Abstract

Purpose

Recent studies suggest variation in genes along the vitamin D pathway, as well as vitamin D receptor (VDR) protein levels, may be associated with prostate cancer. As serum vitamin D levels vary by season, we sought to determine whether the expression of genes on the vitamin D pathway, assessed in prostate tumor tissue, do the same.

Methods

Our study incorporates mRNA expression data from 362 men in the Swedish Watchful Waiting cohort, diagnosed between 1977 and 1999, and 106 men enrolled in the US Physicians’ Health Study (PHS) diagnosed between 1983 and 2004. We also assayed for VDR protein expression among 832 men in the PHS and Health Professionals Follow-up Study cohorts. Season was characterized by date of initial tissue specimen collection categorically and by average monthly ultraviolet radiation levels. One-way analysis of variance was used to examine variation in the expression levels of six genes on the vitamin D pathway—VDR, GC, CYP27A1, CYP27B1, RXRα, CYP24A1—and VDR protein by season, adjusted for age at diagnosis and Gleason grade. Variation was also examined separately among lethal and nonlethal cases.

Results

Tumor expression levels of the six genes did not vary significantly by season of tissue collection. No consistent patterns emerged from subgroup analyses by lethal versus nonlethal cases.

Conclusions

Unlike circulating levels of 25(OH) vitamin D, expression levels of genes on the vitamin D pathway and VDR protein did not vary overall by season of tissue collection. Epidemiological analyses of vitamin D gene expression may not be biased by seasonality.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Natalie DuPré, Hannah Mandel, Lauren McLaughlin, and Colleen Evans for their assistance gathering data for this analysis. We are also grateful to the participants in the Physicians’ Health Study, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and the Swedish Watchful Waiting Cohort. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health research training grant R25 CA098566 (MME) and training grant NIH 5 T32 CA09001-35 (JLK, KLP, IMS), National Cancer Institute grant CA141298 (MJS), the Prostate Cancer Foundation (LAM), and by the American Institute for Cancer Research (JLK). The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study is supported by NCI/NIH Grant P01 CA055075.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Mara M. Epstein, Julie L. Kasperzyk, Irene M. Shui, Kathryn L. Penney, Jennifer R. Rider, Meir J. Stampfer, Edward Giovannucci & Lorelei A. Mucci

  2. Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Avenue, Third Floor, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Mara M. Epstein, Julie L. Kasperzyk, Kathryn L. Penney, Jennifer R. Rider, Meir J. Stampfer & Lorelei A. Mucci

  3. Department of Urology, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85, Örebro, Sweden

    Ove Andrén & Swen-Olof Andersson

  4. Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Örebro University Hospital, 701 85, Örebro, Sweden

    Katja Fall

  5. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Edward Giovannucci

  6. The Centre for Public Health Services, University of Iceland, Sæmundargötu 2, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Lorelei A. Mucci

Authors
  1. Mara M. Epstein
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  2. Ove Andrén
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  3. Julie L. Kasperzyk
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  4. Irene M. Shui
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  5. Kathryn L. Penney
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  6. Katja Fall
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  7. Jennifer R. Rider
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  8. Meir J. Stampfer
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  9. Swen-Olof Andersson
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  10. Edward Giovannucci
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  11. Lorelei A. Mucci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mara M. Epstein.

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Epstein, M.M., Andrén, O., Kasperzyk, J.L. et al. Seasonal variation in expression of markers in the vitamin D pathway in prostate tissue. Cancer Causes Control 23, 1359–1366 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0016-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-012-0016-9

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