Copyright
©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2016; 22(3): 933-948
Published online Jan 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i3.933
Published online Jan 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i3.933
Protective links between vitamin D, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer
Stacey Meeker, Audrey Seamons, Lillian Maggio-Price, Jisun Paik, Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, United States
Author contributions: Meeker S reviewed literature and wrote the manuscript; Seamons A, Maggio-Price L and Paik J revised and edited drafts; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Grant No. AICR 09A136-Rev, NIH R21 CA149995-01A1 and NIH 5T32DK007742-17.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors disclose no potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jisun Paik, PhD, Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Washington, Box 357340, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195, United States. jpaik@uw.edu
Telephone: +1-206-2212682 Fax: +1-206-6853006
Received: April 29, 2015
Peer-review started: May 12, 2015
First decision: September 9, 2015
Revised: September 28, 2015
Accepted: November 24, 2015
Article in press: November 24, 2015
Published online: January 21, 2016
Peer-review started: May 12, 2015
First decision: September 9, 2015
Revised: September 28, 2015
Accepted: November 24, 2015
Article in press: November 24, 2015
Published online: January 21, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Vitamin D is inversely related to inflammation-associated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer. As vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are prevalent worldwide, it can significantly impact risk and progression of these diseases. Here we provide an overview of human epidemiologic and animal studies linking vitamin D, IBD and colon cancer. We also review potential mechanisms of vitamin D action that were elucidated by using animal models. Finally, we address current knowledge gaps in this field of research to help determine the potential benefits and risks of using vitamin D to prevent and/or treat IBD and cancer.