Next-Gen Selenium Strengthens a Cancer Barrier

Monomethylated selenium (MM-Se) forms that are precursors of methylselenol, such as methylseleninic acid (MSeA), differ in metabolism and anticancer activities in preclinical cell and animal models from seleno-methionine that had failed to exert preventive efficacy against prostate cancer in North American men. Given that human prostate cancer arises from precancerous lesions such as high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-PIN), which frequently have lost phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) tumor suppressor permitting phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K)–protein kinase B (AKT) oncogenic signaling, we tested the efficacy of MSeA to inhibit HG-PIN progression in Pten prostate-specific knockout (KO) mice and assessed the mechanistic involvement of p53-mediated cellular senescence and of the androgen receptor (AR). We observed that short-term (4 weeks) oral MSeA treatment significantly increased expression of P53 and P21Cip1 proteins and senescence-associated-β-galactosidase staining, and reduced Ki67 cell proliferation index in Pten KO prostate epithelium. Long-term (25 weeks) MSeA administration significantly suppressed HG-PIN phenotype, tumor weight, and prevented emergence of invasive carcinoma in Pten KO mice. Mechanistically, the long-term MSeA treatment not only sustained P53-mediated senescence, but also markedly reduced AKT phosphorylation and AR abundance in the Pten KO prostate. Importantly, these cellular and molecular changes were not obser...
Source: Cancer Prevention Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Research Articles Source Type: research