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Vitamin E Inhibits Cancer Cell Growth |
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Although vitamin E is well known as an antioxidant, researchers suspect it has other vital functions. George Sigounas and colleagues from the division of hematology/oncology at East Carolina University School of Medicine in Greenville, N.C., looked at the effect of vitamin E on cancer cell lines from specific types of human breast cancer, prostate cancer and erythroleukemia (erythroleukemia is the out-of-control proliferation of immature red and white blood cells).
Vitamin E markedly suppressed the growth of hormone-responsive breast and prostate cancer cells. For example, even the lowest dose (a 0.1 mM [millimolar] solution) halved the growth of prostate cancer cells by day 24. Compared to a placebo solution, the highest dose of vitamin E (1 mM) inhibited the cell growth by roughly one third on day six. By day 18, cell growth had dropped to zero. High doses (beyond the range that simple dietary supplementation could achieve) also inhibited erythroleukemia cells. Vitamin E reduced DNA synthesis in all cancer cell lines and increased DNA fragmentation, a marker for cell death.
The authors noted that the vitamin E concentrations needed to inhibit prostate and breast cancer cell growth could possibly be achieved by dietary supplementation, yet further research is needed to establish a therapeutic dose.
--Nutrition and Cancer, 28: 30-35, 1997
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