Vitamin D - A New Protective Mechanism Against Colon Cancer

According to Ministry of Health and Consumption, colon cancer is the deadliest malignancy in Spain, causing over 25,000 deaths annually. Although progress is made continually in research and treatment, survival of patients with colorectal cancer are diagnosed in advanced stage of the disease has not improved significantly since many years. While it is accepted that the most effective against cancer in general and in particular colorectal cancer is prevention, campaigns in this regard have failed so far the desired results.
Vitamin D has been traditionally associated with the regulation of bone biology and the prevention of rickets. However, numerous recent studies support a protective effect of vitamin D against various cancers, particularly colon and prostate, breast and others. As Bert Vogelstein, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine, Johns Hopkins researcher Universitad the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Maryland (USA) and Prince of Asturias Prize said: "Studies on the relationship between vitamin D3 (active of vitamin D found in the body), bile acids and colorectal cancer have significant implications for the prevention of colorectal cancer in the future "
Most epidemiological studies suggest that reduced concentrations of vitamin D in blood is associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer, whereas those with concentrations in the highest rank have lower risk. These results have motivated a great interest in studying the action of vitamin D as a preventive agent against colorectal cancers.
The team of Prof. Alberto Munoz at the Institute for Biomedical Research "Alberto Sols" located on the campus of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, joint center of this University and the National Research Council investigates the action of calcitriol (vitamin D3) in human cells of colon cancer. In collaboration with the group led by Dr. Felix Bonilla at the Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro move to human samples, taken from tumors taken from cancer patients, noting the current ethics rules, results in vitro in cell cultures and in experimental animals in order to elucidate the mechanisms and possibilities for use of calcitriol and vitamin D in preventing and perhaps treating this malignancy.
Today it is accepted that one of the initial and fundamental alterations in the vast majority of colorectal cancers is abnormal activation of a molecular signaling pathway called Wnt / beta-catenin. This occurs because the mutation of one of three genes: APC, or Axin CTTNB1/beta-catenina. The latest finding made by the group led by Alberto Muñoz published in the journal Carcinogenesis shows that calcitriol increases the expression of a gene called Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1). This gene is a natural inhibitor of the Wnt pathway / beta-catenin, and since this acts as an engine that initiates and promotes tumor progression, induction of DKK-1 may be relevant to its antitumor action. The authors have also shown a relationship between the expression of DKK-1 receptor and vitamin D in human colorectal tumors, and further, that DKK-1 has tumor suppressor activities in addition to inhibition via Wnt / beta-catenin.
These findings help explain the molecular mechanisms of action of vitamin D, and support its role in the prevention of human colon cancer and therefore the importance of maintaining adequate levels of vitamin multifunctional body.