Researchers have found that vitamin D improves immunity against cancer in laboratory mice by promoting the growth of a type of intestinal bacteria.
Feeding a diet rich in vitamin D improved immune resistance to cancer and improved response to immunotherapy.
The researchers found that vitamin D acts on cells in the intestine, increasing the amount of “good” bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis. This microorganism gave the mice better immunity against cancer because the transplanted tumors did not grow as much.
A team from the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and Denmark’s Aalborg University reported their findings in the journal Science.
To test whether bacteria alone could provide better cancer immunity, mice were divided into two groups. One person was given a regular diet containing Bacteroides fragilis, which improved their immune response. Mice fed a vitamin D-deficient diet were unable to resist tumor growth.
“What we showed here was surprising,” said lead author Caetano Reis e Sousa, director of the Institute of Immunobiology at Crick University. “Vitamin D can modulate the gut microbiome to favor certain bacteria that give mice better immunity against cancer.”
Previous studies have suggested a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk in humans, but Bacteroides fragilis is also present in the human microbiome, although the evidence is not conclusive.
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To investigate this, researchers analyzed a dataset from 1.5 million people in Denmark1. The results revealed a link between low vitamin D levels and increased cancer risk. Another analysis of cancer patient populations also suggested that people with higher vitamin D levels2 were more likely to respond well to immune-based cancer treatments.
“This could one day be important for human cancer treatment.”
“The key question we are currently trying to answer is how exactly vitamin D supports a ‘good’ microbiome. Answering this could reveal new ways in which the microbiome influences the immune system, offering exciting possibilities in cancer prevention and treatment.” said researcher Evangelos Giampazorias.
So far, researchers have found that vitamin D helps gut bacteria induce cancer immunity and improves the response to immunotherapy in mice.
“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,” NCI added Romina Goldschmid, a Stadtmann researcher at the Cancer Research Center.
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Meanwhile, Japanese researchers say vitamin D may be key to preventing ovarian cancer after discovering it blocks important changes in the metastasis of this deadly cancer. thinking. This suggests that ovarian cancer actively reverses the process by which host defenses are directed against ovarian cancer, which could be key as part of a treatment plan for early diagnosis. .
“We know that vitamin D deficiency can cause health problems, but there hasn’t been enough evidence linking vitamin D levels to cancer risk. This early-stage study using mice , combined with analysis of Danish population data, aims to address gaps in the evidence,” explained Dr Nisharnthi Duggan from Cancer Research UK.
Exposure to a little sunlight can help our bodies produce vitamin D. And most people can produce enough vitamin D with just a short amount of time in the summer sun.
Vitamin D can also be obtained through food and supplements.
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