10:57
Vitamin E fortified - food
Washington: A new study by boffins at the University of Arizona has found that a chemically altered form of vitamin E when given as a dietary supplement dramatically reduces spread of
aggressive mammary cancer.
The study was conducted on a mouse model by a team of researchers led by Emmanuel T. Akporiaye, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Immunobiology at the University of Arizona,
who said that incorporating the synthetic compound into food was more successful than force feeding and injections, and that the method was more clinically useful.
Although vitamin E is an anti-oxidant, it cannot destroy tumor cells by itself. To improve the vitamin, derivatives have been created by swapping a hydroxyl chemical group with an acid.
One is alpha-tocopheryl succinate (á-TOS), which used a succinic acid residue, and another is alpha-tocopheryloxyacetic acid (á-TEA), which used acetic acid.
Replacing the hydroxyl group in vitamin E helps force cancer cells to self destruct, because the compounds work to free up pro-apoptotic proteins that are normally held in check within
cells.
“We tried other ways of delivering different forms of the synthetic vitamin, such as by force feeding and injections, but found that one form, á-TEA, was more effective when
incorporated into food, and that makes it much more clinically useful,” he said.
To gauge the effectiveness of a dietary treatment, the researchers had special rat chow manufactured that incorporated a fairly large quantity of á-TEA into the food. They then tested
the chow as a cancer preventive and as a cancer treatment.
For the prevention study, the mice ate á-TEA chow starting on the same day that they were injected with rodent mammary tumour cells known to spread quickly to the lungs and bones.
The mice were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted, and at the end of 29 days, the average tumour volume was reduced by 6.7-fold, compared to control mice who had not
been fed á-TEA.
In the therapy experiment, mice started eating á-TEA chow 11 days after tumours were implanted, and in the experimental group, there was a 3.6-fold reduction in average tumour
volume compared to control mice.
In both preventive and therapeutic studies, mice fed á-TEA chow had a 4.8-fold reduction in the number of tumours that had spread to the lungs, compared to control mice.
“The results were very impressive. The chow was very effective in slowing down the growth rate of the tumor and significantly reducing metastases.”
The boffins now suggest that the compound in pill form could be used to treat human metastatic cancer.
“The combined characteristics of ease of delivery, relevance of route of delivery and selectivity for killing tumour cells suggest that dietary á-TEA may be useful for treating metastatic
breast cancer,” he said.
“These preliminary studies are very promising, and it could be that combining this synthetic vitamin E derivative with other anti-cancer treatments may offer the potential of both
treating and preventing human breast cancer,” Akporiaye said.
Akporiaye revealed that though only a little part of vitamin E had been changed in the synthetic derivatives, the new compounds showed amazing anticancer properties.
“Only a little part of vitamin E is changed in these synthetic derivatives, but they show amazing anticancer properties, and they selectively target tumor cells,” Akporiaye said.
The researchers are now testing the effect of reduced doses of á-TEA in the chow and plan to test the synthetic vitamin in combination with dendritic cell immunotherapy.
Washington: A new study by boffins at the University of Arizona has found that a chemically altered form of vitamin E when given as a dietary supplement dramatically reduces spread of
aggressive mammary cancer.
The study was conducted on a mouse model by a team of researchers led by Emmanuel T. Akporiaye, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Immunobiology at the University of Arizona,
who said that incorporating the synthetic compound into food was more successful than force feeding and injections, and that the method was more clinically useful.
Although vitamin E is an anti-oxidant, it cannot destroy tumor cells by itself. To improve the vitamin, derivatives have been created by swapping a hydroxyl chemical group with an acid.
One is alpha-tocopheryl succinate (á-TOS), which used a succinic acid residue, and another is alpha-tocopheryloxyacetic acid (á-TEA), which used acetic acid.
Replacing the hydroxyl group in vitamin E helps force cancer cells to self destruct, because the compounds work to free up pro-apoptotic proteins that are normally held in check within
cells.
“We tried other ways of delivering different forms of the synthetic vitamin, such as by force feeding and injections, but found that one form, á-TEA, was more effective when
incorporated into food, and that makes it much more clinically useful,” he said.
To gauge the effectiveness of a dietary treatment, the researchers had special rat chow manufactured that incorporated a fairly large quantity of á-TEA into the food. They then tested
the chow as a cancer preventive and as a cancer treatment.
For the prevention study, the mice ate á-TEA chow starting on the same day that they were injected with rodent mammary tumour cells known to spread quickly to the lungs and bones.
The mice were allowed to eat as much food as they wanted, and at the end of 29 days, the average tumour volume was reduced by 6.7-fold, compared to control mice who had not
been fed á-TEA.
In the therapy experiment, mice started eating á-TEA chow 11 days after tumours were implanted, and in the experimental group, there was a 3.6-fold reduction in average tumour
volume compared to control mice.
In both preventive and therapeutic studies, mice fed á-TEA chow had a 4.8-fold reduction in the number of tumours that had spread to the lungs, compared to control mice.
“The results were very impressive. The chow was very effective in slowing down the growth rate of the tumor and significantly reducing metastases.”
The boffins now suggest that the compound in pill form could be used to treat human metastatic cancer.
“The combined characteristics of ease of delivery, relevance of route of delivery and selectivity for killing tumour cells suggest that dietary á-TEA may be useful for treating metastatic
breast cancer,” he said.
“These preliminary studies are very promising, and it could be that combining this synthetic vitamin E derivative with other anti-cancer treatments may offer the potential of both
treating and preventing human breast cancer,” Akporiaye said.
Akporiaye revealed that though only a little part of vitamin E had been changed in the synthetic derivatives, the new compounds showed amazing anticancer properties.
“Only a little part of vitamin E is changed in these synthetic derivatives, but they show amazing anticancer properties, and they selectively target tumor cells,” Akporiaye said.
The researchers are now testing the effect of reduced doses of á-TEA in the chow and plan to test the synthetic vitamin in combination with dendritic cell immunotherapy.
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