Vitamin D may help curb breast cancer progression
Newswise — Vitamin D may help curb breast cancer progression,
suggests a small study published ahead of print in the Journal of
Clinical Pathology.
The authors reach their conclusion from a study of 279 women
with invasive breast cancer. The disease was in the early
stages in 204 women, and advanced in the remainder.
Serum levels of vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, and calcium were
measured in both groups of women.
The results showed that women with early stage disease had
significantly higher levels of vitamin D and significantly lower
levels of parathyroid hormone than did the women with advanced
disease.
There was little difference in calcium levels between the two
groups.
The authors say that the exact reasons for the disparity are
unclear, nor is it known whether the low levels of vitamin D among
those with advanced disease are a cause or consequence of the cancer
itself.
But it is known that vitamin D treatment boosts the activity of
certain key genes and dampens it down in others. One gene that is
boosted is p21, which has an important role in controlling the cell
cycle.
Low levels of vitamin D may therefore promote progression to
advanced