2023-04-29 03:45:50
| ▲ A study has found that the more melanoma patients with normal vitamin D levels are, the better the effect of chemoimmunotherapy is. (Photo = DB) |
[메디컬투데이=이승재 기자] It was found that the more melanoma patients with normal vitamin D levels, the better the effect of chemoimmunotherapy.
A study on the treatment effect and prognosis of vitamin D levels in melanoma patients was published in the ‘Cancer Journal’.
Vitamin D has numerous health benefits. Typically, vitamin D promotes the absorption of calcium to help maintain bone health. Vitamin D is the only vitamin that can be synthesized in our body, and vitamin D is synthesized in the skin when exposed to sunlight.
However, patients with some skin diseases, especially melanoma, a type of skin cancer, should take vitamin D supplements because they are advised to avoid sunlight.
On the other hand, cancer is generally treatable through chemotherapy.
Anticancer treatment is divided into cytotoxic therapy that directly kills cancer cells, immunotherapy that uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer, and targeted therapy that targets specific substances expressed by cancer cells.
The research team analyzed the effect of chemoimmunotherapy according to vitamin D levels in 200 melanoma patients.
As a result of the study, chemoimmunotherapy was effective in 56% of patients with normal vitamin D levels. On the other hand, only 36% of patients with low vitamin D levels showed an effect on chemoimmunotherapy. In addition, there was a difference in disease-free survival between patients with normal vitamin D levels and those with low vitamin D levels.
The disease-free survival period refers to the period during which a cancer patient lives without any other disease other than cancer, and is directly related to prognosis.
In patients with normal vitamin D levels, the mean disease-free survival was 11.25 months. On the other hand, patients with low vitamin D levels had a disease-free survival of 5.75 months.
They concluded that melanoma patients with normal vitamin D levels were more likely to benefit from chemoimmunotherapy and had longer disease-free survival.
Reporter Lee Seung-jae of Medical Today (ecctomas@mdtoday.co.kr)
[저작권자ⓒ 메디컬투데이. 무단전재-재배포 금지]
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