Vitamin D improves immunity against cancer and reduces tumor growth in mice, according to a study

Researchers have found that vitamin D improves immunity against cancer by encouraging the growth of a type of gut bacteria in laboratory mice.

Given a diet rich in vitamin D, they had better immune resistance to cancers and a better response to immunotherapy treatment.

The team found that vitamin D acts on cells in the gut, which in turn increases the amount of a good bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis. This microbe gave the mice better immunity against cancer, as the transplanted tumors did not grow as much.

The team from the Francis Crick Institute, the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and Aalborg University in Denmark reported their findings in the journal Science.

To test whether the bacteria alone could give better immunity against cancer, the mice were divided into two groups. One received a normal diet but with Bacteroides fragilis, which improved the immune response. Mice placed on a vitamin D-deficient diet were unable to resist tumor growth.

“What we showed here was a surprise,” said Caetano Reis e Sousa, head of the Crick’s Laboratory of Immunobiology and lead author. Vitamin D can regulate the gut microbiome to favor a type of bacteria that gives mice better immunity against cancer.”

Previous studies have proposed a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk in humans, although the evidence has been inconclusive, but Bacteroides fragilis is also found in our human microbiomes.

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To investigate this, researchers looked at a dataset of 1.5 million people in Denmark1, which highlighted a link between lower levels of vitamin D and an increased risk of cancer. A separate analysis of a population of cancer patients also suggested that people with higher levels of vitamin D2 were more likely to respond well to immune-based cancer treatments.

This could one day be important for the treatment of cancer in humans.

A key question we are currently trying to answer is how exactly vitamin D supports a good microbiome. If we can answer that, we could discover new ways in which the microbiome influences the immune system, potentially offering exciting possibilities for preventing or treating cancer, said Evangelos Giampazolias, a former Crick postdoctoral researcher.

So far, they have found that vitamin D helps gut bacteria to trigger immunity against cancer, improving the response to immunotherapy in mice.

These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge about the role of the microbiota in cancer immunity and the potential for dietary interventions to fine-tune this relationship to improve patient outcomes, added Romina Goldszmid, a Stadtman Research Fellow at the Center for Cancer Research. of NCI Cancer.

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Meanwhile, researchers in Japan believe vitamin D could be key to preventing ovarian cancer, after finding it stopped a key transformation in the metastasis of this highly lethal cancer. It actively reversed a process by which ovarian cancer turns host defenses against them, suggesting it could be key as part of a treatment plan for early diagnosis.

We know that vitamin D deficiency can cause health problems, but there was not enough evidence to link vitamin D levels to cancer risk. This early stage research in mice, together with an analysis of data from the Danish population, aims to address the evidence gap, explained Dr Nisharnthi Duggan from Cancer Research UK.

A little sunlight can help our bodies make vitamin D, and most people can make enough vitamin D by spending short periods of time in the summer sun.

We can also get vitamin D from our diet and supplements.

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