A new study has found that there may be a link between vitamin D and improved immunity against cancer. A study in mice found that the vitamin promotes the growth of a type of intestinal bacteria, giving the animals better immunity against disease.
Researchers found that mice fed a diet rich in vitamin D had improved immune resistance to experimentally transplanted cancers and improved response to immunotherapy treatment.
“This is a very important finding,” said lead author Caetano Reis e Sousa, director of the Institute of Immunobiology at the Francis Crick Institute. Improves immunity against cancer.
Researchers were surprised to discover that vitamin D acts on specific cells in the intestine.
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Caetano Reis e Sousa, director of the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute and lead author, said: vitaminD The gut microbiome can be adjusted to favor types of bacteria that give mice better immunity against cancer.
“While this may one day be important for human cancer treatment, we do not know how and why vitamin D mediates these effects through the microbiome.
“More research is needed before we can conclusively say that correcting vitamin D deficiency is effective in preventing or treating cancer.”
Researchers were surprised to discover that vitamin D acts on certain cells in the intestine, resulting in an increase in the amount of a bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis.
The findings showed that the tumors did not grow as much, suggesting that the microorganisms gave the mice better immunity against cancer.
How researchers collected their findings
To test whether bacteria alone could provide better cancer immunity, they gave the bacteria to mice fed a normal diet.
These mice were also better able to resist tumor growth, but not when fed a vitamin D-deficient diet.
Although there is no conclusive evidence, previous research suggests a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk in humans.
To investigate this, researchers looked at a dataset from 1.5 million people in Denmark and found a link between lower vitamin D levels and increased cancer risk.
A separate analysis of cancer patient groups also suggested that people with higher vitamin D levels were more likely to respond well to immune-based cancer treatments.
Bacteroides fragilis is also present in the human microbiome, but further research is needed to establish whether vitamin D helps confer immune resistance to cancer through the same mechanism.
Evangelos Giampazourias, former postdoctoral fellow at Crick University and currently group leader of the Cancer Immune Surveillance Group at Cancer Research UK’s Manchester Research Institute, said: .
“Answering this could reveal new ways in which the microbiome influences the immune system, offering exciting possibilities in cancer prevention and treatment.”
Dr Nisharnthi Duggan, Research Information Manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “We know that vitamin D deficiency can cause health problems, but there is not enough evidence linking vitamin D levels to cancer risk.
“This early-stage study in mice, combined with analysis of Danish population data, aims to address gaps in the evidence.
“Our findings suggest a possible link between: vitaminD Further research is needed to confirm this regarding the immune response to cancer.
There is not enough evidence linking low vitamin D levels (vitamin D deficiency) to cancer.
P.A.
Editor’s opinion
This new research is encouraging as we seek to combat a disease that remains the leading cause of death around the world.
However, it’s worth stressing that this study was conducted in mice, and research on the link between vitamin D and cancer in humans is not conclusive.
For example, most randomized controlled trials have found that vitamin D supplements, with or without calcium, do not reduce the risk of developing cancer overall or of any specific cancer.
We will defer to the UK Cancer Research Agency’s opinion on this point. “There is not enough evidence linking low vitamin D levels (vitamin D deficiency) to cancer.”
That doesn’t mean it’s not important to supplement with vitamin D or get enough vitamin D in your diet.
Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in your body. These nutrients are necessary to keep your bones, teeth, and muscles healthy.
A lack of vitamin D can cause bone deformities such as rickets in children and bone pain in adults due to a condition called osteomalacia.
It is recommended that all Britons take a daily vitamin D supplement throughout the autumn and winter months.
It is recommended that people with dark skin and people over 50 who spend a lot of time indoors take supplements year-round.
