Date: 02-02-09
Name: Terri Guess
Phone: 973-972-3000
Email: [email protected]
Calcitrol, the active form of vitamin D, has been found to induce a
tumor suppressing protein that can inhibit the growth of breast cancer
cells, according to a study by researcher Sylvia Chistakos, Ph.D., of
the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School.
Chistakos, a professor of
biochemistry, has published extensively on the multiple roles of
vitamin D, including inhibition of the growth of malignant cells found
in breast cancer. Her current findings on the vitamin D induced protein
that inhibits breast cancer growth are published in a recent issue of
The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Previous
research had determined that increased serum levels of vitamin D are
associated with an improved diagnosis in patients with breast cancer.
Prior to the current study, little was known about the factors that
determine the effect of calcitrol on inhibiting breast cancer growth,
she said.
During the study, Christakos and co-author Puneet
Dhawan, Ph.D., examined the protein involved in the action that can
reduce the growth of vitamin D in breast cancer cells. “These results
provide an important process in which the active form of vitamin D may
work to reduce growth of breast cancer cells,” said Christakos. “These
studies provide a basis for the design of new anticancer agents that
can target the protein as a candidate for breast cancer treatment.”
The
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the
nation’s largest free-standing public health sciences university with
more than 5,600 students attending the state's three medical schools,
its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a
school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only
school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than
two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at
campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and
Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center
in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, a statewide mental
health and addiction services network.
