{
  "id": 5398484,
  "title": "Vitamin D counters bone invasion by mammary cancer through inhibition of inflammation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/vitamin-d-counters-bone-invasion-by-mammary-cancer-through-inhibition",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-03T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.02.748895v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to poorer outcomes in various cancers, including breast cancer. Studies have shown that administering vitamin D or its analogs can help decrease tumor progression and metastasis in animal mammary cancer models. In a recent study, researchers investigated how vitamin D deficiency in mice contributes to bone invasion and metastasis of mammary cancer cells.\n\nUsing tibially-injected MMTV-PyMT mammary tumor cells, the researchers found that vitamin D deficiency in non-immunodeficient FVB mice accelerated bone invasion. Mechanistically, vitamin D deficiency increased pro-inflammatory cytokines and nestin expression in the internal bone surface and marrow. Additionally, vitamin D deficiency enhanced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) through the Zeb1 transcription factor.\n\nIn vitro experiments revealed that treatment of MMTV-PyMT tumor cells with CXCL12 stimulated Zeb1 expression. This effect was efficiently counteracted by administering 1,25(OH)2D, a form of vitamin D. Moreover, when MMTV-PyMT tumor cells were treated with 1,25(OH)2D, there was a significant reduction in several pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as GM-CSF, ICAM-1, IL-1ra, IP-10, JE, MCP-5, MIP-1, MIP-1β, MIP-2, RANTES, and CXCL12.\n\nThe researchers also found that vitamin D repleteness was associated with very high expression of Socs1, an inhibitor of the JAK/STAT pathway. This inhibitor prevents excessive inflammatory responses and has a tumor-suppressive role. These findings provide strong evidence linking vitamin D deficiency to accelerated inflammation-driven bone invasion, nestin expression, and EMT.\n\nThe study suggests that ensuring vitamin D repleteness in breast cancer patients could potentially enhance the efficacy of co-administered therapies in preventing invasion of skeletal sites.",
  "summary": "Vitamin D deficiency is associated with poor outcome in several cancers in humans, and administration of vitamin D or analogs has been shown to decrease tumor progression and metastasis in animal mammary cancer models. We previously demonstrated significant acceleration of carcinogenesis in vitamin D-deficient mouse mammary tumor virus-polyoma middle T (MMTV-PyMT) mammary cancer model as well as…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}