TUESDAY, Nov. 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Low vitamin D levels may increase the risk of bladder cancer, according to a review presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Endocrinology, held from Nov. 7 to 9 in Brighton, U.K.
Five of seven studies the researchers reviewed linked low vitamin D levels with an higher risk of bladder cancer.
In experiments with epithelial cells, the researchers found that the cells activate and respond to vitamin D. This, in turn, can stimulate an immune response, the study authors said.
"More clinical studies are required to test this association, but our work suggests that low levels of vitamin D in the blood may prevent the cells within the bladder from stimulating an adequate response to abnormal cells," lead author Rosemary Bland, Ph.D., an honorary associate professor at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, said in a university news release.
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