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Vitamin D Inhibits Progress of Some Prostate Cancers
Drink milk, get modest exposure to the sun and take a vitamin pill
Feb. 8, 2006 - Vitamin D can inhibit the spread of
prostate cancer cells by limiting the activity of two specific enzymes,
University of Rochester Medical Center scientists report. It's good news
for senior citizens, since prostate cancer – the number one cancer found
in American men – is usually discovered after men reach 70 years of age.
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This finding means that vitamin D could provide
beneficial treatment to prostate cancer patients with high levels of the
enzymes, the scientists said.
"We wanted to know the targets of vitamin D so we
would know which patients would respond better," said Yi-Fen Lee, Ph.D.,
an assistant professor of Urology at the Medical Center who led the
research.
The journal Carcinogenesis published the findings
by Lee and her fellow researchers in its January issue. The research was
conducted in test tubes using human prostate cancer cells lines.
Research evidence increasingly has indicated that
vitamin D suppresses the progression of cancer.
Medical Center scientists discovered that vitamin D
significantly limits the ability of prostate cancer cells to invade
healthy cells by reducing the activity of two enzymes – proteases called
matrix metalloproteinase and cathepsin.
Vitamin D also increases the level of counterpart
enzymes that inhibit matrix metalloproteinase and cathepsin, the
Rochester scientists found.
Vitamin D, however, had little effect on
plasminogen activators, which also are important in the spread of
prostate cancer.
"Each individual is different so the therapy could
be custom made for each person," Lee said.
The vitamin D used in the study is
1,25-hydroxylvitamin D3, the most potent and active form of vitamin D in
the human body. But Lee and other scientists at the Medical Center's
James P. Wilmot Cancer Center do not advise taking large amounts of
vitamin D without medical supervision.
"This high dose has some side effects, including
increasing blood calcium levels and causing kidney problems" said Edward
M. Messing, M.D., chair of Urology at the Medical Center. "It should not
be taken without prescription and a physician monitoring the side
effects."
Lee is investigating whether there are medicines or
other vitamins, such as vitamin E, that could enhance the anti-cancer
effects of vitamin D without increasing toxicity.
"The best way to get vitamin D is to drink milk,
get modest exposure to the sun, and take a vitamin pill to enrich the
vitamin D, which might prevent cancer," Lee said.
In addition to Lee, authors of the Carcinogenesis
article include Bo-Ying Bao, a University of Rochester graduate student,
and Shauh-Der Yeh of the Department of Urology at Taipei Medical
University.
An estimated 232,000 new cases of prostate cancer
were diagnosed in the United States last year – more than any other
cancer in men. About 30,000 deaths occurred from prostate cancer in the
United States last year.
Abut the study
The research was supported by grants from the U.S.
Department of Defense and the New York Academy of Medicine Edwin Beer
Research Fund.
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