Vitamin D found to influence more than 200 genes, including some linked to cancer
UK scientists at the University of Oxford have discovered that vitamin D can affect the activity of more than 200 genes of cells grown in the lab. Some of these genes are known from previous studies to be involved in diseases like diabetes and cancer.
Using state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology, the research team created a map of sites where the vitamin D receptor - a protein activated by vitamin D - attaches itself to DNA and activates particular genes.
Their map, which is detailed in the journal Genome Research, revealed 2,776 binding sites for the vitamin D receptor along the human genome.
These binding sites tended to be highly concentrated near a number of genes associated with susceptibility to autoimmune diseases - including multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis - and with certain cancers, such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and bowel cancer.
Read the whole article at Cancer Research UK
Reference
- Ramagopalan, S. et al (2010). A ChIP-seq defined genome-wide map of vitamin D receptor binding: Associations with disease and evolution Genome Research DOI: 10.1101/gr.107920.110
Keywords: vitamin D, autoimmune diseases, bowel cancer
24. 8. 2010 Cancer Research UK
