Vitamin D in the Cancer Battle

Previous studies have established that Vitamin D signaling regulates cell proliferation and differentiation, and a number of epidemiological data suggest that it functions as a cancer chemopreventive agent. John White, from McGill University (Canada), and colleagues studied the ability of Vitamin D signaling to suppress expression of genes regulated by c-MYC, a transcription factor that controls epidermal differentiation and cell proliferation and whose activity is frequently elevated in cancer, in a laboratory model. The team showed that hormonal 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25D) and the vitamin D receptor (VDR) profoundly alter, through multiple mechanisms, the balance in function of c-MYC. It also enhanced MXD1 expression and stability, thereby dramatically altering ratios of DNA-bound c-MYC and MXD1.  Noting this capacity to suppress  cMYC function, the study authors submit that their findings: "[provide] a molecular basis for cancer preventive actions of vitamin D.”