HEALTH & FITNESS

Vitamin D3 may protect us from the toxic effects of arsenic in drinking water

Researchers from Japan have identified the underlying biological mechanisms that regulate arsenic-mediated carcinogenesis and how to inhibit it.

It is estimated that more than 140 million people across the globe regularly consume drinking water that is contaminated with arsenic, a naturally occurring substance that is known to causes a variety of cancers including skin cancer. How can we reduce the toxic effects of arsenic? Researchers from Japan have suggested that calcitriol, or activated vitamin D3, may help reduce the risk of arsenic-mediated skin cancer.

Using in vitro studies, the research team from Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) and Nagoya University demonstrated how activated vitamin D3 inhibits arsenic-mediated carcinogenesis in certain types of skin cells known as “keratinocytes (primarily found in the epidermis).

How activated vitamin D3 inhibits arsenic-mediated skin cancer?

Certain signaling molecules including kinase proteins (MEK or “AKT”) are strongly linked to tumor development. In vitro study using human nontumorigenic HaCaT skin keratinocytes, the research team found that activated vitamin D3 (also known as 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3) inhibited “arsenic-mediated anchorage-independent growth with downregulations of cancer-related activation of several signaling pathways, including MEK, ERK1/2, and AKT, as well as activity of cell cycle.”

They then measured arsenic levels in HaCaT cells treated with calcitriol with the help of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrophotometer. What they found was quite remarkable: arsenic levels decreased significantly when the cells were treated with higher doses of calcitriol. The research findings were reported in the American Journal of Cancer Research.

Activated vitamin D3 or calcitriol can suppress arsenic uptake in HaCaT cells by regulating expressions of aquaporin genes (AQP7, 9, and 10), which were modified by arsenic exposure, the researcher said, as quoted by Science Daily.

Activated vitamin D3 may also prevent arsenic-triggered lung cancer

Can calcitriol also inhibit arsenic-induced tumorigenesis in other cells apart from skin keratinocytes? Yes!

The investigators from Japan conducted another in vitro study using human lung epithelial cells called “Beas-2b” and found equally astonishing results. Calcitriol treatment was able to suppress arsenic-mediated growth of Beas-2b cells by up to 70 per cent. This suggests that calcitriol’s inhibitory effect on arsenic-induced tumorigenesis is not limited to keratinocytes, but it can also target other cells including lung epithelial cells.

Based on the findings, the researchers believe that activated vitamin D3, or calcitriol, may help prevent and treat arsenic-mediated diseases including cancer.

Drinking arsenic-contaminated water can contribute to the development of life-threatening diseases such as cancer, but it’s a slow process and may take years, even decades. The study suggested that taking vitamin D3 may delay the potential onset of cancer by 5 or 10 years for people living in arsenic-contaminated areas and help them maintain good health for a long time.

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