Chemotherapy and vitamin D - many studies

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Vitamin D has been shown to enhance many types of Chemotherapies

So, be careful about taking vitamin D IF your doctor is unwilling to reduce the amount of chemo to be given.
Chemo dosages were established for the majority of people who have low levels of vitamin D in their blood.
It appears that if you take the normal Chemo dose AND a good level of vitamin D in your blood you will get 2X the impact.
The impact varies with the type of Chemo, suggest that you search PubMed for "name of chemo" "Vitamin D"
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Update 2017 by Founder of VitaminDWiki
A friend of mine got Lung Cancer
I told him it was great to take extra vitamin D, PROVIDED the Chemo dose was monitored and reduced as needed.
Unfortunately the doctors did not adjust the dose until the finally noticed he had so few white blood cells that they could not be mseasured.

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Chart by VitaminDwiki

Click here for 2017 update below on this page

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Popular Chemotherapy drugs

Wonder how many chemo drugs vitamin D interacts with
Caring4Cancer

Carboplatin (Paraplatin)	cancers of the ovary, head and neck, and lung
Cisplatin (Platinol, Platinol-AQ)	cancers of the bladder, ovary, and testicles
Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan, Neosar)	lymphoma, breast cancer, and ovarian carcinoma
Docetaxel (Taxotere)	breast cancer, lung, and prostate
Doxorubicin (Adriamycin)	breast cancer, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma
Erlotinib (Tarceva)	non small cell lung cancer
Etoposide (VePesid)	cancers of the lung, testicles, leukemia, and lymphoma
Fluorouracil (5-FU)	cancers of the colon, breast, stomach, and head and neck
Gemcitabine (Gemzar)	cancers of the pancreas, breast, ovary, and lung
imatinib mesylate (Gleevec)	chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)
Irinotecan (Camptosar)	cancers of the colon and rectum
Methotrexate (Folex, Mexate, Amethopterin)	cancers of the breast, lung, blood, bone, and lymph system
Paclitaxel (Taxol, Abraxane)	cancers of the breast, ovary, and lung
Sorafinib (Nexavar)	advanced kidney cancer
Sunitinib (Sutent)	gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) and kidney cancer
Topotecan (Hycamtin)	cancers of the ovary and lung
Vincristine (Oncovin, Vincasar PFS)	leukemia and lymphoma
Vinblastine (Velban)	lymphoma and cancers of the testis and head and neck

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Paclitaxel chemotherapy cause pains if low vitamin D, need less Paclitaxel if higher D – Sept 2024

The correlation between vitamin D and the occurrence of peripheral neuropathy induced by paclitaxel chemotherapy
Front Med (Lausanne). 2024 Sep 24:11:1466049. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1466049
Jialei Zhang 1, Xiaoling Zhang 2 3, Jie Wu 1

Introduction: Paclitaxel, a widely used chemotherapeutic agent for various cancers, induces peripheral neuropathy (PIPN) in approximately 80% of patients, severely affecting their quality of life. The role of vitamin D in pain perception has gained attention, but its correlation with PIPN remains unclear.

Methods: This study included 129 cancer patients who received adjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy from January to June 2023. Neuropathic pain was assessed using the Douleur Neuropathique 4 Questions (DN4) questionnaire, and serum levels of vitamin D and glutathione (GSH) were measured to explore the correlation between vitamin D levels and neuropathic pain induced by paclitaxel chemotherapy.

Results: The results showed a negative correlation between vitamin D deficiency and the occurrence of neuropathic pain (Spearman correlation coefficient of -0.324, P < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the area under the vitamin D curve for neuropathic pain was 0.681. Furthermore, after paclitaxel chemotherapy, there was a significant decrease in GSH levels in the serum of patients, with a more pronounced decline in the vitamin D-deficient group.

Discussion: The findings of this study indicate that higher levels of vitamin D are negatively associated with the occurrence of paclitaxel-induced neuropathic pain, suggesting that vitamin D might protect against oxidative stress. This discovery is significant for clinical treatment as it may help physicians better understand the mechanisms of pain during paclitaxel therapy and provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of such pain. It also suggests that modulating vitamin D levels could reduce the neurotoxicity of paclitaxel, thereby improving patients' quality of life and treatment compliance.

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Calcitriol potentiates the anti-tumor activities of multiple chemotherapeutics agents including DNA-damaging agents cisplatin, carboplatin and doxorubicin; antimetabolites 5-fluorouracil, cytarabine, hydroxyurea, cytarabine and gemcitabine; and microtubule-disturbing agents paclitaxel and docetaxel

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Cancer Chemotherapy and vitamin D – Review March 2013 has the following chart

PDF is attached at the bottom of this page

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See also VitaminDWiki

• All items in category After Cancer Diagnosis 113 items
• Cancer - after diagnosis pages containing CHEMO in title (31 as of Oct 2021)
• Vitamin D prevents breast cancer, reduces BC mortality, and reduces BC chemotherapy problems – Sept 2018
• Both Vitamin D and Vitamin C fight cancers and aid anticancer drugs – May 2018
• Chemo drug (Nitrogen Mustard in this study) side effects minimized by vitamin D (mice) – March 2015
• Chemotherapy (cisplatin) and vitamin D synergistically stop stomach cancer – Feb 2014
• Vitamin D appears to both prevent and treat various cancers – Mar 2011
• Is vitamin D the only supplement which consistently helps cancer survivors – Aug 2010
• Cancer survivors helped with lots of Vitamin D – Aug 2010
• Metastatic Cancer is maybe reduced by vitamin D - 5 articles
• If vitamin D levels were not changed, toxicity to chemotherapy did not vary with levels – May 2012
• Cancer patients 64% less likely to die if have high level of vitamin D – Dec 2011
• Breast Cancer Chemotherapy initially decreases vitamin D levels – May 2012
• Breast cancer chemotherapy benefits from highest vitamin D levels – June 2014
• If vitamin D levels were not changed, toxicity to chemotherapy did not vary with levels – May 2012
• Vitamin D levels dropped 3 ng during cancer chemotherapy – May 2012
• Cancer Chemotherapy and vitamin D – Review March 2013
• Hypothesis – Chemotherapy can be aided by Vitamin D – March 2016
• Chemotherapy might be augmented with Vitamin D – Jan 2017
• Radiation and Vitamin D - many studies

See also web

• PubMed Search for chemotherapy "vitamin d" 18.698 items March 2023
• US Clinical Trials for chemotherapy "vitamin d" 119 as of March 2023
• US Clinical Trials for chemotherapy INTERVENTION "vitamin d" 77 items Aug 2023, such as
  • Effectiveness of High Dose Vitamin D Supplementation in Stage III Colorectal Cancer - study completion 2022
  • Vit D3 and Omega 3 in Chemo Induced Neuropathy - study completion Nov 2016
  • Cholecalciferol in Treating Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukemia Undergoing Intensive Induction Chemotherapy - study completion June 2015
  • Study of Vitamin D Supplementation Tailored to Vitamin D Deficiency in Breast Cancer Patients (VITACAL) 100,000 IU at intervals depending on initial deficiency
  • High-Dose Cholecalciferol in Treating Patients Receiving Combination Chemotherapy and Bevacizumab as First-Line Therapy For Metastatic Colorectal Cancer
  • Study of Vitamin D in Untreated Metastatic Colorectal Cancer (8,000 IU)
• Vitamin D deficiency in oncology patients--an ignored condition: impact on hypocalcemia and quality of life Oct 2012
  98% on chemotherapy has less than 30 ng of vitamin D
• Vitamin D levels in patients of acute leukemia before and after remission-induction therapy Jan 2013 PDF at bottom of this page

• Keeping Your Hair in Chemo NYT March 2015
  Freeze scalp during chemo treatments - no mention that vitamin D also preserves hair during chemo

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Update - Nov 2017

Googled: chemotherapy "vitamin d" - first entry is this VitaminDWiki page

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Antioxidant supplements such as co enzyme Q10, selenium and the vitamins A, C and E can help to prevent cell damage
- VitaminDWiki comment - so Chemo doctors recommend NOT taking them!!

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Treatment can last for anywhere from 3 to 6 months. During that time, you would be considered to be immunocompromised — not as able to fight infection. After finishing chemotherapy treatment, it can take anywhere from about 21 to 28 days for your immune system to recover.
http://www.breastcancer.org/tips/immune/cancer/chemo
- VitaminDWiki Comment: Even if you wait until chemo is done Vitamin D can probably help the immune system recover

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Oct 2, 2008 - The odds of having severe vitamin D deficiency (25-OH vitamin D≤15 ng/ml) in a patient receiving chemotherapy was fourfold higher than a patient with colorectal cancer who never received chemotherapy or completed chemotherapy at least 3 months prior to their vitamin D assay.

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- ‎2017 - In the patients who received chemotherapy (45% ), those with sufficient vitamin D levels had a statistically longer survival than those with deficient levels (p<0.002). Also the patients with sufficient levels, they were more likely to complete the 6 months of chemotherapy than those with deficient levels (p<0.006)

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The relationship between vitamin D and chemotherapy-induced toxicity – a pilot study - June 2012
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3389405/   No such attachment on this page

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• In a laboratory study, vitamin D3 was found to increase breast cancer cell death caused by radiotherapy from approximately 30% to 75%.
• A 2016 study of 1,666 women in California found that higher levels of vitamin D at diagnosis were associated with improved survival, especially among premenopausal women.
• A prospective study which used stored blood of breast cancer patients to measure Vitamin D levels found that women with deficient vitamin D levels had a significantly increased risk of distant recurrence and death compared with those with sufficient levels. The authors concluded that vitamin D deficiency may be associated with poor outcomes in breast cancer.
  http://foodforbreastcancer.com/articles/how-important-is-vitamin-d-before-and-after-breast-cancer-diagnosis%3F

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Vitamin D may increase survival for breast cancer patients
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/314017.php Nov 2016

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Appropriate vitamin D loading regimen for patients with advanced lung cancer - Oct 2016
20,000 IU a day for 14 days was not enough- full free PDF online
https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12937-016-0203-8

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List of Cancer Chemotherapy Drugs 213 drugs as of Nov 2017

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Cheno is a huge source of revenue to bigpharma Wikipedia
- VitaminDWiki comment -A patient needing less Chemo (due to Vitamin D) results in:

• less income for the hospital: which is a function of cost of chemo and reduced days in hospital
• Doctors/hospitals also get a large income from use of Chem drugs - they buy wholesale but bill retail
  Thus often getting an additional income of $2,000/patient/month
  We can anticipate lots of resistance to reducing chemo dose sizes as a result of having a good level of Vitamin D

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VitaminDWiki recommends considering gut-friendly forms of vitamin D during chemotherapy

Chemotherapy/Radiation Therapy often upsets digestion Wikipedia
There are several forms of vitamin D for people with poor digestion

• Gut-Friendly Vitamin D
• Vitamin D injection is far better than oral for diabetics (poor gut) – RCT March 2017
• People with poor guts getting nutrition via IV had poor oral Vitamin D bio-availability – May 2017
• Getting Vitamin D into your body has the following chart

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Omega-3 looks promising to reduce/offset chemo and radiation therapy

• Breast cancer and Omega-3 – perhaps prevention and augment treatment – Aug 2017
• Omega-3 prevents and treats several cancers – Sept 2017 interactive display
• Omega-3 should help Pancreatic Cancer in 5 ways – June 2017
• Prostate Cancer treatment (Vitamin D, Omega-3, Tumeric) RCT ending Dec 2018 - probably no results published until 2020

Stock up on Vitamin D before surgery or at least before Chemo (provided doctor adjusts the chemo/radiation doses)

For many people 400,000 IU of vitamin D will be sufficient to get a good level (Some will need 2X or 3X more)

Days	IU/day
40 days	10,000 IU
8 days	50,000 IU
2 days	200,000 IU

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Possible beneifts of having a good level of vitamin D before chemo starts

assuming that chemo dose is reduced
Less hair lost
Less nauseated
Less fatigue
Less recurrence of cancer
Less spread of cancer
Less chemo-brain
Less bruising, infection
Less weight gain
Less constipation/diarrhea
Less anemia
Less peripheral neuropathy
Less hearing loss
Less reduction in fertility
Fewer bone problems
Fewer heart problems
Fewer mouth sores
Live longer

Nice list of Chemo side effects

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What if a chemo drug is amplfied by Vitamin D more than 2X?

Note: Currently no chemo drug is known to be amplified by vitamin D by more than 2X
But, if chemo dose for the drug is reduced by only 2X the resulting chemo drug + Vitamin D could potentially be deadly
Wonder if there is any data on Vitamin D levels when taking many chemo drugs
   Kaiser, Medicare, VA, etc.

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11+ VitaminDWiki pages having CHEMO in the title

This list is automatically updated

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There have been 80730 visits to this page

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