A form of vitamin D has been found to greatly enhance radiation treatment for tumors associated with breast cancer, according to a new collaborative Dartmouth Medical School study. The findings support the potential benefits of combining a vitamin D analog with radiation to wipe out radiation-resistant cancer cells.
Vitamin C helped convert mouse embryonic stem cells growing in the laboratory to heart muscle cells, researchers report. This basic-research discovery could lead to future research on ways to treat people suffering from damaged heart muscle. “Although the findings of this study are very preliminary with respect to their impact on human lives, this line of research has enormous implications for the future care of thousands of patients who develop heart failure each year,” says Robert O. Bonow, M.D., president of the American Heart Association.