Italian researchers have reported that a variation of the gene for the vitamin D receptor plays a role in the development of melanoma, a serious and life threatening form of cancer as it’s involved in cell growth and death. 

Researchers at the University of Padova in Italy, looked at studies that examined Vitamin D and melanoma risk. Variants in the vitamin D receptor gene have been said to play a role in the risk of melanoma, but prior studies have had conflicting results. They studied data from six studies with a total of 2152 patients who had melanoma and 2410 that did not have the disease. The impact of five vitamin D receptor genes variations, or "variants," designated TaqI, FokI, BsmI, EcoRV, and Cdx2, were studied in connection with the risk of melanoma.

In the recent research the authors said the altered form of the receptor is less able to bind to vitamin D, though earlier research has indicated that this process could help protect against melanoma. They found people who had an increased risk of melanoma had variants in a vitamin D gene called BsmI. These findings some doctors feel indirectly support the theory that if the role of BsmI is very strong then sun exposure could have anti-cancer effect.  

Dr. Simone Mocellin and Dr. Donato Nitti, from the University of Padua reported that Patients with the BsmI variant had a 30 % increased risk of melanoma, which accounted for close to 10 % of melanoma cases. The FokI variant did not affect the risk of melanoma while the impact of the other three variants was less clear.

The authors summed it up to say that though the effects of BsmI variant are not fully established "these findings indirectly support the hypothesis that sun exposure may have an anti-melanoma effect through activation of the vitamin D system."

According to the report in the journal Cancer this recent investigation represents the first combined analysis performed using published data.