This vitamin boosts our immunity against cancer through the microbiota.
Immunotherapy is a very effective method of treating cancer. Unfortunately, this does not work the same in all bodies. It is estimated that more than 10 million people die from cancer every year worldwide. So science is constantly looking for new ways to stimulate our own protective T-cell responses to kill cancer cells. This effort examined the role that an important vitamin traditionally associated with calcium absorption and bone health might play.
For several years, various studies have analyzed the potential of this organic molecule in preventing tumors and its potential as an adjunctive therapy after a cancer diagnosis. There were already signs that this vitamin may help protect us from cancer and make us a little more “immune” in some way.
Now comes the unexpected discovery in mice, published in the April 25 issue of the journal.The sciencepoints to a factor that may explain why people respond differently to cancer therapy: level of vitamin D in intestinal tissues may promote the presence and growth of certain bacteria that stimulate killer T cells to attack cancer.
A previous study conducted by LA RAZON recently showed a benefit daily value of vitamin D associated with cancer. According to this study, vitamin D can help reduce the chance of dying from cancer by 12%. This is not the first evidence linking this molecule to a greater “anti-cancer” response.
Vitamin D is found in some foods in our diet, such as fatty fish or egg yolks. It can also be produced by our own body when exposed to sunlight. It primarily serves to regulate metabolism and, in addition to maintaining bone health, regulates many cellular functions in the body. Among them, it guarantees correct operation the immune system.
While there have been hints that vitamin D may help fight cancer, the new discovery in mice is no less surprising. Cayetano Reis e Souza, head of the immunology laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London, England, and lead author of the study, says it will be necessary to continue to carefully study whether the same mechanisms work in humans, since “it’s worth exploring”.
The discovery was made possible by mouse droppings.
“Vitamin D affects the activity of hundreds of genes, so it’s complicated,” says Reis e Souza. But in their experience, patients with higher vitamin D activity have are more likely to survive different types of cancer and respond better to immunotherapy. During the study, they wanted to determine which genes were affected by the molecule.
To do this, researchers in their laboratory worked with mice that had previously had a gene that may be involved in the spread or suppression of cancer knocked out. By transplanting cancer cells into these modified mice, they tracked how long it took for the cells to develop into tumors.
Some of these mice have been genetically edited to remove a protein that binds to vitamin D in the blood and keeps it from the tissues. Scientists observed how these modified mice (to better absorb vitamin D) cancer cell growth was reduced. But the researchers didn’t know why.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this discovery is that it comes from animal feces. And the mice eat each other in balls. This made mice that shared a cage with mice more resistant to cancer. they ate their excrement. Surprisingly, it also improved the protective response to cancer cells in unedited mice.
So something in that feces must have been transferred from the knockout mice to the normal mice they were caged with. Researchers found that intestinal bacteria from feces mice somehow slowed tumor growth.
New treatments using vitamin D?
Finally, scientists have confirmed that vitamin D acts on intestinal epithelial cells, which in turn increase the number of bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis. This microbe provided mice with greater immunity against cancer.
“What we showed here surprised us: Vitamin D may regulate microbiota or the gut microbiome to favor the type of bacteria that gives mice the best immunity against cancer,” says the immunologist. As a result of their higher vitamin D levels, the mice also responded better to immunotherapy. “We still don’t know how bacteria work,” says Reis e Souza. “But the effect is beyond doubt“
“One day this may be important for treatment of cancer in humans, but we don’t know how or why vitamin D has such an effect on the microbiome. “More work needs to be done before we can definitively say that correcting vitamin D deficiency has benefits for preventing or treating cancer,” he warns.
Vitamin D Products
What do you think about Boost your vitamin D levels through food or supplements? Most of it is found in fatty fish (eel, elderberry, tuna, pomfret, sardines, carp, herring…), liver and salmon oil, egg yolk or pork liver.
Reis e Souza, who is Portuguese and has darker skin (which causes him to produce less vitamin D in London), says that since he discovered he was deficient in the vitamin about 10 years ago, he has been take supplements. “Generally, if you are diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency, it seems reasonable to try to correct it. But this, of course, does not depend on this study,” he clarifies.
The author points out that you should always consult your family doctor before taking vitamin supplements, even after you have been diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency, and if you have been diagnosed with cancer, until more is known about the effect of vitamin D supplements on your risk. of this disease. diseases and other areas of human health.
In fact, there is Known risks of vitamin D overdose. Excess can cause abnormally high levels of calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause serious damage to white tissue, bones and kidneys. On the other hand, increasing your sun exposure to get more vitamin D may increase your risk of developing skin cancer. All you need to do is go for a walk and be sure to take photo protection.
Given this discovery, we can only hope that it will lead to improved therapeutic applications.