its connection with cancer

In recent years, interest in vitamin D and its surprising deficiency in sun-exposed countries such as Spain has continued to grow. Although current medical protocols recommend monitoring only these levels. in people at risk of bone diseases – osteoporosis or rickets – a large number of people are found to be deficient in this vitamin in our environment, and it seems that its treatment improve symptoms it would in principle have nothing to do with this molecule.

Now a new study by researchers from the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US, and Aalborg University in Denmark points to a new role for vitamin D that proves to work more like a hormone than a vitaminreducing cancer risk associated with the intestinal microbiome.

According to this new work published in the journal The scienceVitamin D can stimulate growth a type of intestinal bacteria what improves immunity against cancer. This bacterium is part of the microorganisms that colonize the human intestinal microbiome and answers to the name Bacteroid fragile.

(A vitamin that we hardly take in Spain and that “prevents” melanoma: include it in your diet)

According to the researchers, mice fed a diet rich in vitamin D had increased immune resistance against experimentally transplanted cancer tumors and improved response to treatment immunotherapy. This effect was enhanced after genetically editing a protein that binds to vitamin D in the blood and keeps it away from tissues. By inhibiting it, the vitamin continues to circulate and can cover more areas instead of being blocked.

To the researchers’ surprise, vitamin D had an effect on epithelial cells intestines, which, in turn, increases the amount Bacteroid fragile. This microorganism, present in both mice and humans, has led to increased cancer-fighting immunity in rodents. transplanted tumors They slowed down their growth, although researchers do not know how this process works.

Then they checked This bacterium alone can improve immunity

. They were given probiotics Bacteroid fragile mice on a normal diet – without vitamin D supplements – and they also showed better immunity against tumor growth. However, the effect disappeared when they were exposed to a vitamin D-deficient diet. Both factors were necessary for immune potential to occur.

Previous studies have already suggested a connection between Vitamin D deficiency and increased risk of cancer in humans, although the scientific evidence is not yet conclusive. In this case, researchers analyzed data from 1.5 million people in Denmark, linking vitamin D deficiency to a higher incidence of tumors. In a separate analysis of patients who had already been diagnosed with cancer, higher levels of this vitamin D were associated with a better response to drug treatment. immunotherapy.

“Vitamin D may regulate the gut microbiome, promoting bacterial growth and improving immunity in mice,” explains Cayetano Reis e Souza, head of the immunology laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute and lead author of the study. “We still don’t know how or why vitamin D has these effects on the microbiome. We need more research before be able to make a convincing statement “Correction of vitamin D deficiency is beneficial in preventing or treating cancer.”

“Although the work was done in mice, it highlights the potential of vitamin D in other organisms, including humans. Dietary Vitamin D Supplements May Modulate the Microbiome and improve immunity against cancer and the effectiveness of immunotherapy,” says Margarita Poza Domínguez, microbiologist at the Institute of Biomedical Research of A Coruña and associate professor at the University of A Coruña, in a statement to Scientific Media Center.