After many research efforts and long hours spent in the laboratory, a group at the University of Colorado Cancer Center may have identified how vitamin D is connected to prostate cancer. The unifying link: inflammation.
"Inflammation is thought to drive many cancers including prostate, gastric, and colon," said James R. Lambert, PhD, in a news release from the center. Dr. Lambert and his colleagues published their findings in The Prostate journal. As described in "Reduced Expression of GDF-15 is Associated with Atrophic Inflammatory Lesions of the Prostate," the gene GDF-15, which is upregulated by vitamin D, is absent in cases of human prostate cancer driven by inflammation.
"GDF-15 may be a good thing in keeping prostate tissue healthy – it suppresses inflammation, which is a bad actor potentially driving prostate cancer," explained Dr. Lambert.
The road to understanding was not as clear in the beginning. At first, Dr. Lambert's group tested the theory that vitamin D itself could be protective against prostate cancer in general. "When you take Vitamin D and put it on prostate cancer CU Cancer Center Study Strengthens Prostate Cancer, Vitamin D Link
After many research efforts and long hours spent in the laboratory, a group at the University of Colorado Cancer Center may have identified how vitamin D is connected to prostate cancer. The unifying link: inflammation.
"Inflammation is thought to drive many cancers including prostate, gastric, and colon," said James R. Lambert, PhD, in a news release from the center. Dr. Lambert and his colleagues published their findings in The Prostate journal. As described in "Reduced Expression of GDF-15 is Associated with Atrophic Inflammatory Lesions of the Prostate," the gene GDF-15, which is upregulated by vitamin D, is absent in cases of human prostate cancer driven by inflammation.
"GDF-15 may be a good thing in keeping prostate tissue healthy – it suppresses inflammation, which is a bad actor potentially driving prostate cancer," explained Dr. Lambert.
The road to understanding was not as clear in the beginning. At first, Dr. Lambert's group tested the theory that vitamin D itself could be protective against prostate cancer in general. "When you take Vitamin D and put it on prostate cancer