ArticleNutrients2013
A novel role for a major component of the vitamin D axis: vitamin D binding protein-derived macrophage activating factor induces human breast cancer cell apoptosis through stimulation of macrophages.
Article in Nutrients, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Vitamin D Receptor in Cancer: Biological Functions, Mechanistic Insights, and Clinical Relevance.Cancer management and research · 2026Review
- Modulation of Peripheral Immune Cells Following Vitamin DNutrients · 2025Article
- The Molecular Aspects of Functional Activity of Macrophage-Activating Factor GcMAF.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Secretome analysis of breast cancer cells to identify potential target proteins ofFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- Vitamin D-Dimer: A Possible Biomolecule Modulator in Cytotoxic and Phagocytosis Processes?Biomedicines · 2022Article
- Analysis of the Biological Properties of Blood Plasma Protein with GcMAF Functional Activity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Inhibition of lung cancer by vitamin D depends on downregulation of histidine-rich calcium-binding protein.Journal of advanced research · 2021Article
- Clinical and genetic associations of renal function and diabetic kidney disease in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Vitamin D-Binding Protein and Risk of Renal Cell Carcinoma in the Cancer Prevention Study-II Cohort.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2018Article
- shRNA-mediated downregulation of α-N-Acetylgalactosaminidase inhibits migration and invasion of cancer cell lines.Iranian journal of basic medical sciences · 2017Article
- Promising role for Gc-MAF in cancer immunotherapy: from bench to bedside.Caspian journal of internal medicine · 2017Review
- Small cell lung cancer: Recruitment of macrophages by circulating tumor cells.Oncoimmunology · 2016Article
- miR-145 mediates the antiproliferative and gene regulatory effects of vitamin D3 by directly targeting E2F3 in gastric cancer cells.Oncotarget · 2015Article
- Vitamin D-related gene polymorphisms, plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D, and breast cancer risk.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2015Article
- The DBP Phenotype Gc-1f/Gc-1f Is Associated with Reduced Risk of Cancer. The Tromsø Study.PloS one · 2015Article
- Vitamin D inhibition of lung adenocarcinoma cell proliferation in vitro.Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The role of vitamin D in maintaining health appears greater than originally thought, and the concept of the vitamin D axis underlines the complexity of the biological events controlled by biologically active vitamin D (1,25(OH)(2)D3), its two binding proteins that are the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the vitamin D-binding protein-derived macrophage activating factor (GcMAF). In this study we demonstrate that GcMAF stimulates macrophages, which in turn attack human breast cancer cells, induce their apoptosis and eventually phagocytize them. These results are consistent with the observation that macrophages infiltrated implanted tumors in mice after GcMAF injections. In addition, we hypothesize that the last 23 hydrophobic amino acids of VDR, located at the inner part of the plasma membrane, interact with the first 23 hydrophobic amino acids of the GcMAF located at the external part of the plasma membrane. This allows 1,25(OH)(2)D3 and oleic acid to become sandwiched between the two vitamin D-binding proteins, thus postulating a novel molecular mode of interaction between GcMAF and VDR. Taken together, these results support and reinforce the hypothesis that GcMAF has multiple biological activities that could be responsible for its anti-cancer effects, possibly through molecular interaction with the VDR that in turn is responsible for a multitude of non-genomic as well as genomic effects.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.