Diabetes, pancreatic cancer and vitamin D. Is there a link?

The role of vitamin D is not merely limited to maintaining skeletal health but also extends to maintaining glucose homeostasis by preserving insulin secretion and sensitivity and thus deficiency of vitamin D plays an important role in aetiopathogenesis of T2 diabetes. In addition to its many other roles, vitamin D has recently been found to have growth inhibiting affects on pancreatic cancer cells. Ecological studies have shown that there exists an inverse correlation between sun exposure and death rates for pancreatic cancer. Since vitamin D has promising role in both type 2 diabetes mellitus and pancreatic cancer, its deficiency may be associated to any or both of these chronic diseases. The present review thus aims to find correlation between diabetes and pancreatic cancer and if vitamin D is a common link between the two.

► Hyperglycemia or hyperinsulinemia can be a cause of both diabetes and pancreatic cancer. ► Vitamin D can have a role in treating diabetes, by maintaining required intracellular calcium concentration and thus proper insulin secretion/sensitivity. ► It can also influence growth factors that promote tumor growth in pancreatic cancer. ► Vitamin D can inhibit pancreatic cancer cell growth by activation of p21 and p27, which influence cell cycle progression and arrest cells in G0/G1.