This is stated in a study carried out by researchers at the Hospital Vall d´Hebrón in Barcelona and the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas "Alberto Sols", published in the journal PLos One. The VDR receptor for vitamin D prevents beta-catenin , a key protein in the transformation of cells into cancer.
Beta-catenin is a protein that is normally present in cell-to-cell contacts and helps form the epithelium of the intestine. By the time a cell begins to transform into a tumor, beta-catenin is present in large quantities. Afterwards, the protein is retained by the cell and facilitates the carcinogenic process. This group of Spanish scientists has shown that vitamin D, through the VDR receptor, slows down this process .
Patients in the early stages of colon cancer could benefit from the action of vitamin D (present in foods such as milk or eggs), but not those in advanced stages of the disease. This is because in these early stages, the VRD receptor, responsible for processing vitamin D3, is still substantially present in cells.
The research has been carried out using mice and human colon cancer cells and will advance the development of drugs against this disease based on the structure of vitamin D3.
