Impact of serum vitamin D on the response and prognosis in breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

BACKGROUND: Several studies have recently reported that the relationships between serum vitamin D and the prognosis or the pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in breast cancer. However, there are no data regarding the clinical impacts of the vitamin D in Japanese breast cancer patients so far. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the present study, a total of 250 patients with clinical Stage I–III primary breast cancer who were treated with NAC and subsequently underwent definitive surgery were included. Serum 25-hydroxvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels were evaluated using blood samples obtained before NAC. RESULTS: The serum 25(OH)D was positively associated with age, and the serum 25(OH)D was significantly higher in postmenopausal women than that in pre/peri-menopausal women. Serum 25(OH)D level was not associated with the achievement of pathological complete response (pCR) in this cohort. The low 25(OH)D levels were significantly associated with shorter time to distant recurrence (TTDR). According to the univariate analysis, high clinical stage before NAC (cStage III) and low serum 25(OH)D level were significantly associated with the shorter TTDR, and pCR was significantly associated with the longer TTDR. According to a multivariate analysis, low serum 25(OH)D level were independent poor prognostic factors for TTDR. CONCLUSIONS: The low 25(OH)D levels were significantly associated with poorer prognosis in Japanese women with operable breast cancer patients treated with NAC.