Wednesday Nov 15, 2016 -- Brian J. Feldman, MD, PhD at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California published a study in Endocrinology suggesting that maintaining sufficient serum vitamin D may help prevent metastasis of breast cancer. 

Previous studies have shown that an overwhelming majority of women with breast cancer suffer vitamin D deficiency (low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) and suggested that maintaining a high level of vitamin D may help prevent up to 75% of breast cancer cases. 

Research also reveals that breast cancer patients with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to have a more aggressive disease and poor prognosis even though it remains unknown whether poor outcomes are actually caused by vitamin D deficiency.  In other words, a good vitamin D status betters the survival odds of patients with breast cancer.  A recent study also suggests that vitamin D sufficiency can help breast cancer survival.  Vitamin D also helps prevent recurrence of breast cancer particularly in premenopausal women.

The new study discovers evidence suggesting that vitamin D can prevent breast cancer progression and metastasis by inhibiting the expression of a gene Idl whose corresponding protein is involved in tumor progression.  

This study demonstrates this unique anticancer function of vitamin D in two animal models of breast cancer.  The mechanism for the inhibition of the expression of this anti-progression gene by vitamin D is relevant in human breast cancer too because vitamin D works in human breast cancer cells to regulate the inhibitor of differentiation 1 (ID1) gene.   Another study shows 58% breast cancer tumors have vitamin D receptors (VDR) with which the patients often have better outcomes because VDR expression is inversely associated with the aggressiveness of the disease.

This means that patients with vitamin D deficiency are more likely to have their disease progressed and metastasized to other locations.  

Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with up to 17 types of cancers including breast cancer.  This study may be the first to demonstrate that vitamin D indeed plays a crucial role in preventing cancer development and its progression.

How much vitamin D do patients with breast cancer or another type of cancer need to use to fight their disease?  According to Dr. Mercola, the doctor who runs a supplement company suggests that at least 8000 IU of vitamin D is needed per day to raise the serum vitamin D to 40 ng/mL.  As a rule of thumb, a patient needs 35 IU per pound of body weight. 

Bill Henderson, who authored a popular book tiled Beating Cancer Gently which has helped tens of thousands of cancer patients, recommended in his book that cancer patients should take 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day forever.

Vitamin D is now known to be an import part of the innate immunity.  In vivo, it helps produce antibacterial peptides which may also help fight cancer.  In addition to its anticancer property, vitamin D may also reduce the risk of many diseases. (David Liu)

Jasmaine D. Williams, Abhishek Aggarwal, Srilatha Swami, Aruna V. Krishnan, Lijuan Ji, Megan A. Albertelli, and Brian J. Feldman, Tumor Autonomous Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency Promote Breast Cancer Metastasis, Endocrinology, March 02, 2016