Vitamin D may not be an anti-cancer drug, but it plays a critical role in the immune system’s proper functioning, including its response to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient that facilitates the absorption of calcium, which is crucial for maintaining healthy bones and teeth. Additionally, it has been widely studied for its role in immune health, including its potential impact on autoimmunity, gut health, respiratory health, and response to viral infections.

Recent research has suggested that maintaining normal levels of vitamin D may be beneficial for patients undergoing anti-cancer immunotherapy.

Specifically, a study published in the peer-reviewed journal CANCER by Wiley Online has found that maintaining normal vitamin D levels could potentially impact the body’s response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy medication commonly used to treat advanced skin cancer.

These findings provide important insights into the potential role of vitamin D in supporting cancer treatment outcomes.

The role of Vitamin D in the body extends beyond its regulatory effects on various physiological processes, including the immune system. The current study investigated whether the levels of Vitamin D could affect the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with advanced melanoma.

The researchers monitored the blood levels of 200 patients before and during immunotherapy treatment administered every 12 weeks.

The findings of the study revealed that patients with normal baseline Vitamin D levels or those who received Vitamin D supplementation demonstrated a favorable response rate of 56.0% to immune checkpoint inhibitors. In contrast, patients with low Vitamin D levels without supplementation had a response rate of 36.2%.

Additionally, the progression-free survival rate, which is the duration from the initiation of treatment to cancer progression, was higher in patients with normal or supplemented Vitamin D levels at 11.25 months, compared to 5.75 months in the low Vitamin D group.

Lead author Łukasz Galus says that Vitamin D is not “an anti-cancer drug, but its normal serum level is needed for the proper functioning of the immune system, including the response that anti-cancer drugs like immune checkpoint inhibitors affect.”

In their opinion “after appropriately randomized confirmation of our results, the assessment of vitamin D levels and its supplementation could be considered in the management of melanoma.”

Source: 10.1002/cncr.34718

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