A colon cancer cell isn’t a lost cause. Vitamin D can tame the cell by adjusting everything from its gene expression to its cytoskeleton.
A recent study shows that vitamin D stymies colon cancer cells in two ways. It switches on genes and induces effects on the cytoskeleton. The net result is to curb division and to produce colon cancer cells that differentiate into epithelial cells that settle down instead of spreading. The study is the first to show that vitamin D’s genomic and nongenomic effects integrate to regulate cell physiology.
Source: ScienceDaily, 26 November 2008
Chapter: Cancer :: 23 February 2009
