Tumors are made from a mass of unneeded, old or damaged cells. Besides, benign tumor, breast cancer is a malignant tumor, a group of cancerous cells that can grow and spread to surrounding tissues. The cancer spreading to other areas of the body, is called metastasizing.
Breast tumors can either be benign or malignant. Benign tumors are usually not harmful to malignant tumors that spread to other parts of the body. When breast cancer cells spread, they usually first spread to the lymph nodes, which are located at the underarms and above the collarbone.
The stage of breast cancer depends on the size of the tumor, and whether or not it has metastasized. A cancer that is Stage I is early-stage breast cancer, whereas a cancer that is Stage IV is advanced cancer that has spread to other parts of the body.
Many studies have shown that there must be a link between vitamin D and breast cancer. The assumption is that women with breast cancer tend to have low levels of vitamin D.
Researchers have found a potential mechanism to explain the relationship between vitamin D and breast cancer. Vitamin D receptors are found on the surface of a cell where they receive chemical signals. By attaching themselves to a receptor, these chemical signals direct a cell to do something, for example to act in a certain way, divide or die.
Vitamin D bind to the vitamin D receptors in breast tissue. This binding causes oncogenes to die or stop growing, and can stop the cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body. Therefore, it is thought that vitamin D may help in protecting against breast cancer, by making cells in the breast smarter.
There is growing evidence that solar UVB reduces the risk of breast and other cancers. People living in the sunny regions of low to mid-latitude countries have lower breast cancer incidence and/or mortality rates than those living in the higher latitude, less sunny regions. Individuals concerned about developing breast cancer may reduce their risk of breast cancer by spending some time in the sun daily, in a bathing suit, when their shadow is shorter than their height, which depends on the time of day and season.