Evidence accrued over the last decade has supported an association between low serum selenium (Se) andincreased incidence of prostate cancer in older men. Accordingly, questions and inquiry arose as to whether adietary supplementation might afford protection, or delay disease progression. Indeed, a very large nationalstudy, Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), to explore the potential benefits of adaily supplement of 200 microgram Se, or 400 I.U. of vitamin E, or both, is underway: the National CancerInstitute anticipates a total enrolment of 32,400 men and durations of 7 to 12 years for individual participants.It is remarkable that at the time of the trial’s activation in 2001 nothing was known about the concentration ofSe in the target organ or whether any Se in a dietary supplement found its way to the prostate gland. Later,our laboratory published the first benchmark values, which indicated that the prostate is reasonably wellendowed with Se and that the concentration in one subject, who had undergone self-medication at 200microgram Se per day, was about twice the average for the others. This review explores the ramifications ofthese and subsequent data for SELECT and other trials, together with observations on dose and generalmechanisms of Se interference with the development of prostate cancer.
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