Associations of vitamin D pathway genes with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin-D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D, and prostate cancer: a nested case–control study

Purpose Vitamin D pathway single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are potentially useful proxies for investigating whether circulating vitamin D metabolites [total 25-hydroxyvitamin-D, 25(OH)D; 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin, 1,25(OH)2D] are causally related to prostate cancer. We investigated associations of sixteen SNPs across seven genes with prostate-specific antigen-detected prostate cancer. Methods In a nested case–control study (within the ProtecT trial), we estimated odds ratios and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) quantifying associations between SNPs and prostate cancer. Subgroup analyses investigated whether associations were stronger in men who had high/low sun exposure [a proxy for 25(OH)D]. We quantified associations of SNPs with stage (T1–T2/T3–T4) and grade (