Scientists from the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute, and Aalborg University say that vitamin D helps mice fight cancer by promoting the growth of special gut bacteria.
To study the relationship between vitamin D and cancer immunity, scientists divided mice into two groups and fed one group a vitamin D-enriched diet and the other group a regular diet. Ta.
Scientists looking at groups consuming foods rich in vitamin D noticed that vitamin D acts on epithelial cells in the intestines, leading to the growth of a bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis.
The findings, published in the journal Science, revealed that bacterial growth boosts cancer immunity in mice. A second group of mice fed a normal diet was then injected with the same bacteria. These mice also became resistant to cancer.
“What we showed here was surprising: vitamin D can modulate the gut microbiome to favor certain bacteria, giving mice better immunity against cancer. We can,” said Caetano Reis e Souza, a senior and head of Crick’s immunobiology lab. Research author.
“While this may one day be important for human cancer treatment, we do not know how and why vitamin D exerts this effect through the microbiome. “More research is needed before we can conclusively say that improving cancer has an effect on cancer,” she continued, “whether it’s prevention or treatment.”
To analyze the effects of bacteria in humans, scientists studied a dataset of 1.5 million Danes and found that higher vitamin D levels were associated with a lower risk of cancer.
“These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge about the role of the microbiome in cancer immunity and the potential for dietary interventions to fine-tune this relationship to improve patient outcomes. However, Further research is needed to fully understand the underlying mechanisms and how they work, which can be leveraged to develop individualized treatment strategies,” said Romina, Stadtmann Research Fellow at the NCI Cancer Research Center. Goldschmid concluded.
by RTTNews Staff Writer
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