Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center reported vitamin D can inhibit the spread of prostate cancer cells by limiting the activity of two specific enzymes.

The journal Carcinogenesis published the findings by Yi-Fen Lee.
The research was conducted in test tubes using human prostate cancer cells lines.

Medical Center researchers discovered that vitamin D significantly limits the ability of prostate cancer cells to invade healthy cells by reducing the activity of two enzymes – proteases called matrix metalloproteinase and cathepsin.
Vitamin D also increases the level of counterpart enzymes that inhibit matrix metalloproteinase and cathepsin.

Vitamin D, however, had little effect on plasminogen activators, which also are important in the spread of prostate cancer.

" Each individual is different so the therapy could be custom made for each person," Lee said.

The vitamin D used in the study is 1,25-hydroxylvitamin D3, the most potent and active form of vitamin D in the human body. But Lee and other researchers at the Medical Center's James P. Wilmot Cancer Center do not advise taking large amounts of vitamin D without medical supervision.

" This high dose has some side effects, including increasing blood calcium levels and causing kidney problems" said Edward M. Messing, at the Medical Center. " It should not be taken without prescription and a physician monitoring the side effects."

Lee is investigating whether there are medicines or other vitamins, such as vitamin E, that could enhance the anti-cancer effects of vitamin D without increasing toxicity.

" The best way to get vitamin D is to drink milk, get modest exposure to the sun, and take a vitamin pill to enrich the vitamin D, which might prevent cancer," Lee said.

Source: University of Rochester Medical Center, 2006
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