Vitamin A reverses breast-cancer precursor DCI

Vitamin A—found in sweet potatoes and carrots—can reverse pre-cancerous cells such as DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), one of the most common early warning signals of breast cancer.

Retinoic acid, a form of the vitamin, makes pre-cancer cells in the breast healthy again, although it cannot reverse full-blown cancer, say researchers from Thomas Jefferson University.

They tested the vitamin on four different lines of cancer cells, at various stages of the cancer’s life, from pre-cancerous—which is the stage when DCIS is diagnosed—through to aggressive and spreading (metastatic).

The retinoic acid, which is one of the chemicals that the body converts vitamin A into, turned pre-cancerous cells healthy in terms of their shape and genetic signature. The cancerous cells, however, didn’t respond to the vitamin.

(Source: International Journal of Oncology, 2014; doi: 10.3892/ijo.2014.2354)

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