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It has been confirmed in mouse experiments that vitamin D improves the response to cancer immunotherapy by regulating intestinal microorganisms.
Additionally, it has been shown that people with high levels of vitamin D are more likely to respond well to cancer immunotherapy.
A joint research team from the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the US National Institutes of Health and Aalborg University in Denmark reported on the 26th in the scientific journal Science that this fact has been discovered through an experiment in which mice were fed a diet rich in vitamin D and an analysis of a group of cancer patients they said they found it.
Dr. Evangelos Giampazolias, first author and co-corresponding author, said that vitamin D has been shown to induce cancer immunity in the gut bacteria of mice and helps improve response to immunotherapy suggests the possibility of preventing or treating cancer through strengthening.
The research team pointed out that previous studies had suggested a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer risk, but the evidence was unclear.
In this study, the research team fed tumor cell-transplanted mice a vitamin D-rich diet and examined changes in the gut microbial community and immunity against cancer.
As a result, mice on a vitamin D-rich diet showed better immune resistance and a better response to immunotherapy as vitamin D acted on intestinal epithelial cells and the number of microorganisms called Bacteroides fragilis increased.
This effect was also observed when gene editing technology was used to remove a protein that binds to vitamin D in the blood and prevents it from entering tissues.
This suggests that improved immunotherapy response is not a direct effect of vitamin D.
Next, to determine whether the improved cancer immunity was the effect of Bacteroides fragilis, this microorganism was administered to mice fed a normal diet. Resistance to tumor growth was improved, but this effect was not observed in mice fed a vitamin D-deficient diet. It did not appear.
Furthermore, a research team from Aalborg University in Denmark analyzed data from 1.5 million people and found a link between vitamin D levels and cancer risk, while a separate analysis of a group of cancer patients found that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with greater drug responsiveness. immunotherapy.
“These results show that vitamin D helps improve the response to cancer immunotherapy,” said Dr. Giampazolias. “An important challenge is to identify the factors that distinguish good microbes from bad ones.”
Co-corresponding author Dr. Caenano Reis et Sosa said: “The results of this study may one day be important in the treatment of cancer, but we do not yet know the exact mechanism of action of vitamin D. Correcting vitamin D deficiency Vitamin D is essential for preventing or treating cancer.” “More research is needed to determine whether it helps,” she said.
(Photo = Science/Perspective/Provided by Fabien Franco and Kathy D. McCoy et al., Yonhap News)
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