Vitamin D linked to better immunity against cancer

A study has found a possible link between vitamin D and improved immunity in a breakthrough in the fight against cancer.

- NINA MASSEY

The study in mice found that the vitamin encourages the growth of a type of gut bacteria which gives the animals better immunity to the disease.

The researchers found that mice given a diet rich in vitamin D had better immune resistance to experimentally transplanted cancers, and improved responses to immunotherapy treatment.

The researchers were surprised to find that vitamin D acts on specific cells in the intestine, which in turn increase the amount of a bacteria called Bacteroides fragilis.

According to the findings, the tumours did not grow as much, suggesting that the microbe gave mice better immunity to cancer.

Caetano Reis e Sousa, head of the immunobiology laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, and senior author, said: “What we’ve shown here came as a surprise – vitamin D can regulate the gut microbiome to favour a type of bacteria which gives mice better immunity to cancer.

“This could one day be important for cancer treatment in humans, but we don’t know how and why vitamin D has this effect via the microbiome.