Recent research has revealed that vitamin D significantly enhances immune resistance to cancer by promoting the growth of beneficial gut bacteria in laboratory mice.
This discovery, reported in the journal Science, suggests that Vitamin D could play a crucial role in cancer prevention and treatment, particularly through its impact on gut microbiota.
In the study, mice fed a diet rich in vitamin D showed improved immune responses to cancer and better outcomes from immunotherapy treatments. The researchers found that vitamin D acts on intestinal cells, increasing the population of a ‘good’ bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis. This bacterium is associated with enhanced cancer immunity, as evidenced by the reduced growth of transplanted tumors in these mice.
The research team, who reported their findings in the journal Science, comprised scientists from The Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health, and Aalborg University in Denmark.
They aimed to determine if the presence of Bacteroides fragilis alone could boost cancer immunity. To test this, they divided mice into two groups: one group received a normal diet supplemented with Bacteroides fragilis, while the other group was fed a vitamin D-deficient diet.
The results were telling; mice given Bacteroides fragilis on a normal diet exhibited an improved immune response and were better able to resist tumor growth, whereas those on a vitamin D-deficient diet did not show such resistance.
Head of the Immunobiology Laboratory at the Crick and senior author, Caetano Reis e Sousa, said, “What we’ve shown here came as a surprise. Vitamin D can regulate the gut microbiome to favor a type of bacteria which gives mice better immunity to cancer.”
These findings align with previous studies that have suggested a link between vitamin D deficiency and increased cancer risk in humans, although the evidence has not been conclusive. However, Bacteroides fragilis is also present in the human microbiome, indicating potential parallels in humans.
The explore this potential further, the researchers analyzed a dataset from 1.5 million people in Denmark. The analysis revealed a correlation between lower vitamin D levels and a higher risk of cancer.
Additionally, a separate analysis of cancer patients indicated that those with higher vitamin D levels were more likely to respond positively to immune-based cancer treatments.
“This could one day be important for cancer treatment in humans.”
A former postdoctoral researcher at the Crick, Evangelos Giampazolias, said, “A key question we are currently trying to answer is how exactly vitamin D supports a ‘good’ microbiome. If we can answer this, we might uncover new ways in which the microbiome influences the immune system, potentially offering exciting possibilities in preventing or treating cancer.”
These observations support the notion that vitamin D, through its interaction with gut bacteria, could enhance the immune system’s ability to fight cancer and improve the efficacy of immunotherapies in mice.
“These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on the role of microbiota in cancer immunity and the potential of dietary interventions to fine-tune this relationship for improved patient outcomes,” added Romina Goldszmid, Stadtman Investigator in NCI’s Center For Cancer Research.
Interestingly, researchers in Japan have also highlighted the potential of vitamin D in cancer prevention, specifically ovarian cancer. They found that vitamin D could inhibit a critical process in the metastasis of this particularly lethal cancer.
The vitamin actively reserved a mechanism by which ovarian cancer cells co-opt the body’s defenses, suggesting that vitamin D could be a vital component of treatment plans for early-stage ovarian cancer diagnosis.
“We know that vitamin D deficiency can cause health problems, however, there wasn’t enough evidence to link vitamin D levels to cancer risk. This early-stage research in mice, coupled with an analysis of Danish population data, seeks to address the evidence gap,” explained Cancer Research UK’s Dr. Nisharnthi Duggan.
The implications of these findings are profound. They suggest that maintaining adequate vitamin D levels could be a simple yet effective strategy to bolster cancer immunity. A small amount of sunlight exposure is sufficient for most people to produce enough vitamin D.
Additionally, vitamin D can be obtained through dietary sources such as fatty fish, fortified foods, and supplements.
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