GMA Vit D shrinks breast cancer cells

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This information was mentioned on Good Morning America today about a study of Vitamin D shrinking breast cancer cells.......Here is part of study, you can go to GMA website to read more......

"JoEllen Welsh, a researcher with the State University of New York at Albany, has studied the effects of vitamin D for 25 years. 

Part of her research involves taking human breast cancer cells and treating them with a potent form of vitamin D. 

Within a few days, half the cancer cells shriveled up and died. Welsh said the vitamin has the same effect as a drug used for breast cancer treatment.

"What happens is that vitamin D enters the cells and triggers the cell death process," she told "Good Morning America." "It's similar to what we see when we treat cells with Tamoxifen," a drug used to treat breast cancer."

Comments

  • bluewillow
    bluewillow Member Posts: 779
    edited February 2010

    Thanks for posting this-- this news, along with the recently news about aspirin possibly preventing recurrence, is very exciting!

    I have been reading and posting on some of the other threads about Vitamin D and I am still a bit confused as to what daily dosage is ideal.  Also would like to know if the liquid (drops) are better than the tablets or caps. I have been taking 1000 iu's in a tablet form, but wonder now if I should increase it.  Now I'm off to the pharmacy to buy some aspirin to take with my D!

  • 2z54
    2z54 Member Posts: 261
    edited February 2010

    Wow! Thank you for posting this!!   Now, my question is since it's compared to tamoxifen, will it also work on triple negative (er-, pr- HER2-)? We don't use tamoxifen. 

    Thanks!

    Sue

  • somanywomen
    somanywomen Member Posts: 872
    edited February 2010

    Sue, I sure hope so, but you can read full article on GMA website.. Good Morning America....

    http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/study-vitamin-d-kills-cancer-cells/story?id=9904415

    try copy/paste the above...

  • luv_gardening
    luv_gardening Member Posts: 1,393
    edited February 2010

    Googling Vitamin D and breast cancer brings up some interesting studies.

    Here's one from 2008 on the wonderful JoEllen Welsh who makes Vit D and breast cancer the focus of her studies.

     http://www.albany.edu/news/update_4473.shtml

     "Welsh and her colleagues, who have studied how Vitamin D acts on cancer cells, have demonstrated that breast cancer cells have protein receptors for Vitamin D. Upon binding Vitamin D, these receptors trigger breast cancer cells to stop growing and to undergo a cell death process. Their studies have demonstrated that Vitamin D treatment can induce established breast tumors to regress."

  • luv_gardening
    luv_gardening Member Posts: 1,393
    edited February 2010

    And here's another way in which Vit D works to convert Breast cancer cells to innocent cells.

     See the BOTTOM of this 2006 LEF page

    http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2006/jan2006_report_i3c_02.htm 

    "Carnosic Acid and Vitamin D

    Cancer researchers have been paying a lot of attention to vitamin D. Scientists know that vitamin D functions as a hormone, affecting immune response and acting in various ways to protect against cancer.71-74 Vitamin D is available in foods and supplements, as well as through its naturally occurring activation in the skin following exposure to ultraviolet light (sunlight). Vitamin D thus appears to be very important to the body's innate ability to fight cancer.75,76

    To complement vitamin's D anti-cancer role, a compound derived from the culinary herb rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) acts to enhance vitamin D's biochemical activity. Carnosic acid and carnosol, found in rosemary, are antioxidant polyphenols that have been shown to aid vitamin D's efforts to thwart cancer. Rather than killing cancer cells outright as many chemotherapeutic agents do, vitamin D halts cancer by forcing precancerous cells to differentiate or become, in essence, more mature cells.77,78 Because cancer is characterized by less mature cells, a process that compels these cells to become more mature is beneficial to fighting cancer. Scientists therefore are keenly interested in using supplemental vitamin D for differentiation therapy to prevent and possibly treat cancer.

    Beyond this promising partnership with natural vitamin D, researchers have identified other mechanisms by which carnosic acid and carnosol work to protect and enhance the immune system.79 These powerful natural antioxidants exhibit antibacterial activity, even against problematic bacteria that have developed resistance to standard antibiotics.80 Carnosol has demonstrated activity against the HIV virus, at concentrations that were not harmful to healthy cells.81 Much like I3C and DIM, rosemary compounds have also been shown to reduce the carcinogenic potential of natural estrogens by enhancing their metabolism in the liver. When treated with a diet containing 2% rosemary for three weeks, female mice increased their beneficial 2-hydroxylation of estrogens by approximately 150% while inhibiting the detrimental 16-alpha-hydroxylation of estradiol by approximately 50%.82

    Glucosinolates and their derivatives from cruciferous vegetables, along with the powerful cancer-fighting compound carnosic acid from rosemary, have thus been shown to be powerful weapons in the battle against cancer."

     I'll be taking rosemary now with my Vit D.

  • luv_gardening
    luv_gardening Member Posts: 1,393
    edited February 2010

    And another study again shows Vit D to fight BC.

    http://www.wellnessresources.com/studies/entry/vitamin_d_helps_prevent_breast_cancer

    "Study Abstract:

    Numerous studies have shown that the active form of vitamin D, 1,25(OH)2D3, can exert growth inhibitory effects on human breast cancer cells and mammary tumor growth.

     ...

    Calcitrol, the active form of vitamin D, has been found to induce a tumor suppressing protein that can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells, according to a study by researcher Sylvia Chistakos, Ph.D., of the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.

    Chistakos, a professor of biochemistry, has published extensively on the multiple roles of vitamin D, including inhibition of the growth of malignant cells found in breast cancer. Her current findings on the vitamin D induced protein that inhibits breast cancer growth are published in a recent issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

    ..."

    Why didn't I know this before?  Thanks a lot Somanywomen for starting this thread. Vit D has now been elevated in my protocol priorities.

  • somanywomen
    somanywomen Member Posts: 872
    edited February 2010

     Sheila, thanks for tip on rosemary and D...

     Here is another possible addition that is proving to be beneficial for breast cancer!!!

    I just saw my Oncologist today and he said that he just got back from a conference on breast cancer.. "Clodronate" that this oral pill bisphosphonate, was given a lot of positive attention in treating breast cancer metastatic to the bone and other benefits....I asked him for a prescription and he said I had to get it from my Primary doc...Well, I just looked info on web and found quite a few positive reviews such as below

    (The below info in italics, I found on Susan Komen site)....Here's the catch.....it is not available in the US, crazy, huh?..Have any of you heard of this drug or how to get it?

    Clodronate reduced the risk of developing bone metastasis:

    • At 5 years, the risk of developing bone metastasis was reduced by 31% in the group of patients treated with Clodronate compared to those who received placebo.
    • During the two years that patients were treated with either Clodronate or placebo, the risk of developing bone metastasis was reduced by 50% for patients with stages II or III breast cancer who were treated with Clodronate.
    • There were no significant differences in cancer spread to other internal organs between the two groups of patients.
    • Among the women who developed bone metastasis, skeletal events (bone fractures, debilitating pain, surgery, and hospitalization for bone-related issues) were more common among those who received placebo (73%) versus those treated with Clodronate (57%).
    • Survival rates were greater among women treated with Clodronate.
    • There were no severe side effects associated with Clodronate; diarrhea was the most common side effect associated with Clodronate.

    The researchers concluded that these results add to findings indicating that the use of a bisphosphonate such as Clodronate in the treatment of early breast cancer appears to reduce the risk of bone metastasis and may affect survival in some patients. Further study is necessary to determine how to incorporate bisphosphonates into the treatment of earlier stages of cancer.

     

  • somanywomen
    somanywomen Member Posts: 872
    edited February 2010
    Sheila, I added a supplement "Zyflamend" a few months ago due to positive information in a few of my anti-cancer books...I just looked at the ingredients and sure enough, Rosemary is the first ingredient listed along with tumeric, ginger, holy basil, green tea,  and more....Had not even realized that I had already been taking rosemary until your mention,,,thank you

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