Prostate cancer: vitamin D to reduce resistance to chemotherapy

Towards significant progress in the fight against cancer? The National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) reveals in a note that a team of researchers is working on the properties of vitamin D. This would have positive effects in chemotherapy, in that it would limit resistance to treatment, in patients with prostate cancer, most common in men. “The majority of advanced forms of the disease evolve towards resistance to hormonal therapy, then resistance to chemotherapy with docetaxel”specifies Inserm. Fatal for many patients. Some preliminary studies suggest that analogues, that is to say modified versions of vitamin D (but without side effects), could also reduce the resistance of breast cancer to chemotherapy. The idea is now to extend this field of research to prostate cancer, which kills more than 8,000 people in France every year.