Vitamin D in Cancer and Other Diseases: A New Wonder Biomarker?

Vitamin D, a fat soluble hormone, plays a very vital role along with parathyroid hormone and calcitonin in calcium homeostasis. Besides this function, a number of other biologically significant roles attributed to vitamin D include maintenance of health of central nervous system, boosting the immunity and prevention against cancer etc. Besides exerting autocrine activity, this vitamin demonstrates endocrine function also due to its mechanism of action being similar to steroid hormones, capability to get synthesized in the body and its ability to produce effects on distant organs. It is synthesized from 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin under influence of ultraviolet radiation and gets fully activated by subsequent hydroxylations in liver and kidney to 1, 25-dihydroxycholecalciferol. Recent reports indicate that prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is rampant in general population worldwide necessitating its estimation and supplementation at a large scale. The deficiency of vitamin D might be attributed to the many factors like modernization of lifestyle, improper dietary habits, skin complexion and genetic cause etc. Inadequate levels of vitamin D might play a role in the etiopathogenesis of a number of chronic diseases, important ones being cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and autoimmune disorders etc. which might benefit by including vitamin D supplementation in the treatment. Therefore, on the basis of these properties, it is imperative to assign the status of a biomarker to vitamin D.