Borchmann S, Cirillo M, Goergen H, et al. - Among prospectively treated patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), researchers measured pretreatment vitamin D levels as well as focused on the correlation of this with clinical outcomes. From the German Hodgkin Study Group clinical trials (HD7, HD8, and HD9), 351 patients were analyzed. Vitamin D status was identified as an independent predictor of outcome, and its likely significance for the chemosensitivity of HL was also hypothesized. In experiments supplementing physiologic doses of vitamin D (calcitriol) to cultured HL cell lines, enhanced antiproliferative impacts in combination with chemotherapy were evident. An improvement in the chemosensitivity of tumors, that was brought about by supplemental vitamin D (dietary supplement, cholecalciferol) by decreasing the rate of tumor growth vs vitamin D or chemotherapy alone was revealed in an HL-xenograft animal model. The inclusion of vitamin D screening and replacement in future randomized clinical trials is supported based on these clinical and preclinical findings, so that the role of vitamin D replacement treatment in HL may be properly clarified.