(NaturalNews)
Research just published in
The Journal of Cell Biology reveals two
important discoveries about one of the most aggressive and difficult to treat
forms of breast cancer. Investigators led by Susana Gonzalo, Ph.D., assistant
professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Saint Louis University , have
found a molecular pathway that contributes to triple-negative breast cancer.
This often deadly form of breast cancer tends to strike younger women and is
resistant to existing treatments -- but Gonzalo and colleagues now believe
vitamin D could be a treatment for many women with this deadly form of breast
cancer.
Gonzalo's research team identified a molecular pathway in women
who are born with BRCA1 gene mutations, placing them at increased risk for
developing breast and ovarian cancers, frequently the triple-negative type. When
this pathway is activated, tumors grow unchecked and they tend to not be
sensitive to standard cancer treatments. Chemotherapy now used to treat this
kind of cancer is rarely effective and carries serious side
effects.
But here's the new and hopeful news. Experiments
performed in Gonzalo's laboratory, in collaboration with the laboratories of
Xavier Matias-Guiu and Adriana Duso at the
Institute of Biomedical Research
in Lleida, Spain, showed that activation of this novel pathway allows tumor
cells to grow unchecked. However, vitamin D was found to enable this pathway to
be turned off.
The result? According to the researchers, vitamin D could be a
"safe and cost-effective strategy to fight these type of
tumors."In a press statement, the researchers noted they are
hopeful that in the future, women with triple-negative
breast cancer may
benefit from a treatment that includes vitamin D. "As with all laboratory
research, vitamin D therapy will have to be studied in a clinical trial before
doctors know how safe or effective it will be," they stated.
The new
research adds to other findings that vitamin D could play a role in preventing
and treating breast
cancer.
For example, a study conducted by scientists at the
German Cancer Research
Center in collaboration with researchers of the
University Hospitals in
Hamburg-Eppendorf and published in the medical journal
Carcinogenesis,
found evidence that women with low blood levels of vitamin D clearly had a
substantially increased risk of breast cancer.
Another study reported
previously by
Natural News from the
University of Rochester Medical
Center found that the vast majority of women undergoing
treatment for breast cancer
had very low levels of vitamin D in their blood. What's more, women whose
disease had progressed to late-stage (i.e. terminal) cancer had the lowest
levels of all.
Sources: http://jcb.rupress.org/content/200/2/187.abstracthttp://www.slu.edu/x71202.xmlhttp://www.naturalnews.com/023264_Vitamin_D_cancer_brst.htmlAbout
the author:Sherry Baker is a widely published writer whose work has
appeared in Newsweek, Health, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Yoga
Journal, Optometry, Atlanta, Arthritis Today, Natural Healing Newsletter, OMNI,
UCLA's "Healthy Years" newsletter, Mount Sinai School of Medicine's "Focus on
Health Aging" newsletter, the Cleveland Clinic's "Men's Health Advisor"
newsletter and many others.
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