Selenium as therapy for prostate cancer

Apr 17 2007

Selenium may offer an intervention strategy for the treatment of prostate cancer according to results of a study from the laboratory of Allen Gao, PhD, which will be presented by Yan Hu, PhD, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) at the 2007 centennial meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), April 14-18, in Los Angeles, CA.

Selenium, an effective chemopreventive agent for prostate cancer, was found to down-regulate interleukin-6 (IL-6), a cytokine that induces the progression of the spread of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. Most prostate cancer patients respond initially to anti-androgen therapy. However, virtually all patients relapse due to the growth of androgen-independent tumor cells promoted by the overexpression of IL-6. Therefore, down-regulation of this cytokine by selenium may represent an intervention strategy in prostate cancer therapy.

Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. Members include more than 24,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers, health care professionals, and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 60 other countries.

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