Vitamin D Shows Preventive Promise
A new study published in the "British Journal of Cancer" has found that women with breast cancer are twice as likely to have a mutation in a gene that is required to synthesize vitamin D.
Specifically, Dr. Kay Colston of St. George's Hospital in London and colleagues found that women with mutations (polymorphisms) in the vitamin D receptor gene are less able to benefit from the protective effect vitamin D.
Earlier studies have suggested such a cancer protective benefit from vitamin D and this latest research may help to better understand that link.
Colston's team looked at different variations of the vitamin D receptor gene in 241 healthy women and compared them to those in 181 women with breast cancer. They found that women with a specific "Bsml" polymorphism were 2.3 times more likely to have breast cancer and were also prone to having more aggressive tumors.
The researchers suggested that this Bsml mutation could be used as a marker for screening women at increased risk of the disease. They now want to explore the possibility that women who have the Bsml genetic mutation may be able to lessen their breast cancer risk by dietary or lifestyle factors, including modified supplements to offset their inability to naturally synthesize vitamin D.
"There is increasing evidence that vitamin D can protect against breast cancer," they wrote, adding that their research "may lead to a new understanding of the role of vitamin D in the control of cellular and developmental [breast cancer] pathways."
Previous research by Gary Posner, Ph.D. and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that a chemically modified version of vitamin D showed promise as a skin cancer preventive and could someday become part of the arsenal in the fight against many types of cancer.
Posner's team created a modified version of vitamin D that they called QW1624F2-2. In tests with laboratory mice of the modified vitamin, they noticed a 28 percent reduction the incidents of new skin cancer tumors and a 63 percent lower number of overall tumors. It appeared that the modified vitamin D acted to delay tumor formation and minimize tumor multiplication without compromising the health of the animals.
No experts recommend drinking excessive amounts of milk and taking megadoses of vitamin D as preventive measures to ward off cancer. But promising new research into the relationship between vitamin D and cancer may soon lead to new, less aggressive prevention strategies for women considered at especially high risk for the disease.
SOURCES:
British Journal of Cancer, August 2001; 85:171-5
Abstracts from the 220th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.