Vitamin D could offer an edge against tumors in the future by strengthening the immune response to cancer. This is suggested by a study published in the journal Science, conducted at the Francis Crick Institute in London, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA and the Danish University of Aalborg.
The researchers found that laboratory mice fed a diet rich in vitamin D had improved immune resistance to tumors experimentally transplanted into their bodies and responded better to immunotherapy treatment. This effect was also observed when animals were genetically modified to have more vitamin D in their tissues. Furthermore, the team found that vitamin D acts in the intestine, favoring a bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis.
According to researchers, it is this microorganism that gives mice improved immunity to cancer. Previous studies have proposed a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk in humans, although the evidence has been inconclusive. To investigate further, the researchers analyzed a dataset from 1.5 million people in Denmark, which highlighted a link between lower vitamin D levels and a higher risk of cancer.
A separate analysis of a cancer patient population also suggested that people with higher vitamin D levels are more likely to respond well to cancer immunotherapy treatments. “Vitamin D may regulate the gut microbiome to favor a type of bacteria that confers better immunity to cancer – explains Caetano Reis and Sousa, lead author of the study –. This could one day be important for the treatment of cancer in humans, But more studies are needed before we can say with certainty that correcting a vitamin D deficiency has benefits for preventing or treating cancer.”
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