Vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms affecting changes in visceral fat, waist circumference and lipid profile in breast cancer survivors supplemented with vitamin D3

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms are associated with circulating metabolic biomarkers and anthropometric measures changes in breast cancer survivors supplemented with vitamin D3. METHODS: One hundred sixty-eight breast cancer survivors admitted to Shohaday-e-Tajrish hospital received 4000 IU of daily vitamin D3 supplements for 12 weeks. Anthropometric measurements as well dietary, physical activity and plasma metabolic biomarkers assessments were performed before and after intervention. VDR polymorphisms were considered as the main exposures. Multivariate multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine the association between the VDR single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and changes in metabolic and anthropometric measures in response to vitamin D3 supplementation. RESULTS: One hundred twenty-five (85%) women had insufficient and inadequate levels of plasma 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) at baseline. Compared to the AA genotype of the ApaI, the aa category showed greater increase in muscle mass [71.3(10.7131.9)] and higher decrease in LDL-C [− 17.9(− 33.6, − 2.3)] levels after adjustment for potential confounders. In addition, the heterozygous genotype (Bb) of the BsmI VDR was associated with higher increase in WC following vitamin D3 supplementation, compared to BB [2.7(0.1,5.3)]. Haplotype score analyses indicate a significant association between inferred haplotypes from BsmI, ApaI, TaqI and FokI, BsmI and Cdx2 VDR polymorphisms and on-study visceral fat changes. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this study showed that genetic variation in the VDR gene was associated with changes in cardio-metabolic parameters in breast cancer survivors, supplemented with vitamin D3, results could provide a novel insight into better understanding of which subset of individuals benefit most from normalization of vitamin D status. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial has been registered on the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT) under the identification code: IRCT2017091736244N1, registration date: 2017-11-10, http://www.irct.ir/trial/27153 and was approved by the ethics committees of the National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute (NNFTRI), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU). ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12944-019-1100-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.