Expression of vitamin D3 receptor in tumor tissue and relationship between clinical features, prognostic indicators and expression of vitamin D3 receptor in hodgkin lymphoma

Introduction: The relation between Vitamin D and cancer was an interesting topic among researchers for a long time. The association of Vitamin D with different types of cancer have been investigated. However, there are a limited number of studies about the expression of Vitamin D receptors in the normal and tumor tissues which are required for Vitamin D's binding and its cellular activity. In one study, it has been shown that VDR was stained more in Hodgkin lymphoma than non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In our study, we aimed to investigate the expression of vitamin D receptor and the relation between clinical features, prognostic indicators and expression of vitamin D receptor in HL Materials and Methods: In our study, pathology records and medical files of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma were used. 42 tissue samples were analyzed retrospectively. Vitamin D receptor staining was performed with immunohistochemistry. The patients are divided into low, medium and intensive stained subgroups. The demographic data, clinical and biochemical values of patients were reviewed retrospectively and the association between clinical features, prognostic indicators and vitamin D receptor expressions were examined. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. Results: VDR staining was positive in all patients Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin lymphoma. VDR staining positive groups were compared with clinical prognostic indicators and the only statistically significant relation was shown with the presence of B symptoms. Gender, bone marrow involvement, extralymphatic involvement, mediastinal mass, bulky mass, mean leukocyte count, treatment response were associated with vitamin D receptor staining intensity, but they were statistically insignificant. Other prognostic data such as age, stage of disease, involvement of spleen, serum hemoglobin level, serum albumin level, LDH, sedimentation rates, lymphocyte and eosinophil count, subgroup data and prognostic groups were not found to be associated with VDR staining levels. Conclusion: Our study was second to show VDR in tumor Hodgkin Lymphoma tumor tissues and meant to be first to study its association with prognostically significant clinical and biochemical laboratory results. In our study, vitamin D receptor staining in all Hodgkin lymphoma patients led to the conclusion that VDR can be used in histopathological differential diagnosis of HL. More studies are needed to assess for demonstrating the relation between prognostic and diagnostic indicators and vitamin D receptor intensity of immunohistochemically detected VDR in tumor tissues of Hodgkin lymphoma and also further more studies with serum vitamin D levels and other histologic subtypes and can provide more reliable results. Keywords: Hodgkin lymphoma, vitamin D, vitamin D receptor, prognostic indicator