Dietary Supplement Selenium May Play a Role in the Prevention of Prostate Cancer

Newswise — Clinical trials have shown that selenium supplementation could reduce the risk of prostate cancer by approximately 50 percent. Yan Dong, assistant professor in the Department of Structural and Cellular Biology at Tulane University School of Medicine, is working to identify the mechanisms by which selenium might act to protect against prostate cancer. She found that selenium could dampen the signaling intensity of androgen, which plays a critical role in promoting the development of prostate cancer. The data her team collects will lay the groundwork for using selenium in combination with an anti-androgen as a new modality for the prevention and/or treatment of prostate cancer.