Breasts process Vitamin D and change gene activation, might prevent breast cancer if given more Vit. D

Created July 2021

Vitamin D as a potential preventive agent for young women's breast cancer

Cancer Prevention Research, DOI: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-21-0114

Sarah M Bernhardt, Virgina F Borges and Pepper Schedin [email protected]

Clinical studies backed by research in animal models suggest that vitamin D may protect against the development of breast cancer, implicating vitamin D as a promising candidate for breast cancer prevention.

However, despite clear pre-clinical evidence showing protective roles for vitamin D, broadly targeted clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation have yielded conflicting findings, highlighting the complexity of translating pre-clinical data to efficacy in humans.

While vitamin D supplementation targeted to high-risk populations is a strategy anticipated to increase prevention efficacy, a complimentary approach is to target transient, developmental windows of elevated breast cancer risk. Postpartum mammary gland involution represents a developmental window of increased breast cancer promotion that may be poised for vitamin D supplementation.

Targeting the window of involution with short-term vitamin D intervention may offer a simple, cost-effective approach for the prevention of breast cancers that develop postpartum. In this review, we highlight epidemiologic and preclinical studies linking vitamin D deficiency with breast cancer development.

We discuss the underlying mechanisms through which vitamin D deficiency contributes to cancer development, with an emphasis on the anti-inflammatory activity of vitamin D. We also discuss current evidence for vitamin D as an immunotherapeutic agent and the potential for vitamin D as a preventative strategy for young woman's breast cancer

Section Titles

Overview of Vitamin D

Vitamin D signaling in breast cancer

Vitamin D in breast cancer progression and metastasis

Anti-inflammatory actions of vitamin D within the tumor microenvironment

Vitamin D as a therapeutic for the prevention of breast cancer

Targeting vitamin D to high-risk populations

Future research directions

Conclusion

There is strong evidence that downregulation of vitamin D signaling contributes to the development and progression of breast cancer. Epidemiological studies have linked vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk of breast cancer development; observations that are well-supported by research in animal models. However, while the potential for vitamin D as a breast cancer preventative agent is well-backed by pre-clinical data, clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation have produced modest and/or conflicting results. Vitamin D supplementation during transient, developmental windows of elevated risk may instead offer a more effective approach for the prevention of breast cancer. Post- lactational involution represents a key developmental window that may be poised for vitamin D supplementation. The unique demands for vitamin D during pregnancy and lactation emphasize vitamin D deficiency during the postpartum period, which in the background of the pro-inflammatory microenvironment of the involuting gland may enhance the tumor promotional attributes of involution. Attenuation of the inflammatory microenvironment of the vitamin D-deficient involuting breast with short-term vitamin D supplementation may offer protection against the development of postpartum breast cancer. Further research into the protective role of vitamin D against postpartum breast cancer development and progression is warranted.

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