Validation of a vitamin D replacement strategy in vitamin D-insufficient CLL patients...

[Cllcanada]

Vitamin D insufficiency has been linked to poor prognosis in patients with malignancy, particularly lymphoid malignancies.

Currently, from the Mayo study..

Patients should be counseled that vitamin D replacement appears to be safe; however, whether it actually alters cancer prognosis remains to be determined.

Letter to the Editor

nature.com/bcj/journal/v7/n...

Thanks Lisa M for this...

~chris

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Appropriately, this important news has been doubly posted:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Given vitamin D replacement appears to be safe and a recent global study shows that higher levels protect against colds and flu, we really should find out if our vitamin D serum level is adequate:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

Neil

[Jm954 Administrator]

Vitamin D deficiency (admin) appears to impairs Rituximab-mediated cellular cytotoxicity and has been associated with poorer outcomes and survival in elderly patients with DLBCL.

See refs:

Vitamin D deficiency impairs rituximab-mediated cellular cytotoxicity and outcome of patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma treated with but not without rituximab: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/251...

Vitamin D deficiency may impair rituximab mediated cytotoxicity diffuse large B-cell: managedhealthcareconnect.co...

25-OH-Vitamin-D Deficiency Impairs Rituximab-Mediated Cellular Cytotoxicity and Is Associated With An Inferior Outcome Of Elderly DLBCL Patients Treated With Rituximab: bloodjournal.org/content/12...

I found out I was severely Vit D deficient (level of 7) halfway through my R treatment and had to have 50,000 units for 12 weeks. Although I knew all this information about Vit D and R before my treatment, I didn't take any supplements - I was in a bit of a fog at the time, tired and ill. However, I take them regularly now and some of my cramps have improved.

Perhaps all patients who are planned to have R should have their Vit D levels checked before they start treatment?

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to Jm954]

Thanks for these references. I've taken the liberty of clarifying that it's a vitamin D deficiency that appears to impact Rituximab-mediated cellular cytotoxicity with DLBCL, though interestingly, I couldn't find a reference to the same effect with CLL. Interestingly drugs.com doesn't report any interaction either.

Neil

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to AussieNeil]

It would be interesting to see a similar study using Gazyva in CLL since its main kill mechanism is ADCC... which the VitD/Rituxan study appears to involve, atleast in DLBCL...