Selenium and Chemotherapy

From Nutrition Health

Selenium and chemotherapy were shown to have a beneficial association. First, selenium does not interfere with radiation nor chemotherapy treatments, which is the worry of many people about using selenium supplementation while undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Secondly, there is strong evidence that selenium actually enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy⁵, prevents the body's development of chemotherapy drug resistance^1,2, and decreases the toxicity of chemotherapy^3,4.

In United States, a study⁵ in Molecular Oncology Program, UCLA School of Medicine, showed that selenium, as a mineral antioxidant, enhanced the efficacy of chemotherapy treatment using chemotherapy drugs like taxol or adriamycin. This effect can be seen with different cancer cells: breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, intestine cancer, and liver cancer. The selenium compound being used was selenium yeast which is natural and non-toxic. The result showed that the combination of selenium and those chemotherapy drugs were more effective as compared to the use of the drugs alone.

In Finland⁶, 41 women with cancer were supplemented with selenium and/or vitamin E and showed a decrease in chemotherapy toxicity. The scientists concluded that selenium supplementation is beneficial during cytotoxic chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients with low selenium levels in their blood. In Poland⁶,the result along the same line was obtained and hence, the scientists recommended the administration of selenium in ovarian cancer patients who are undergoing multi-drug chemotherapy.

Reference

• 1: Caffery, P. B., et al. Prevention and the development of malphalan resistance in vitro by selenite. Biological Trace Element Research. 1998 Dec; 65(3): 187-195.
• 2: Caffrey, P. B., et al. Sensitivity of melphalan-resistant tumors to selenite in vivo. Cancer Lett. 1997 Dec 23; 121(2): 177-180.
• 3: Sundstrom H, et al. Supplementation with selenium, vitamin E and their combination in gynaecological cancer during cytotoxic chemotherapy. Carcinogenesis. 1989 Feb; 10(2): 273-178.
• 4: Sundstrom, H., et al. Serum selenium and gluthathione peroxidase, and plasma lipid peroxidase in uterine, ovarian and vulvar cancer, and their responses to antioxidants in patients with ovarian cancer. Cancer Lett. 1984 Aug; 24(1): 1-10.
• 5: Vadgama, J. V., Wu, Y., Shen, D., Hsia, S., & Block, J. Effect of Selenium in Combination with Adriamycin or Taxol on Several Different Cancer Cells. Anticancer Research 2000; 20: 1391-1414.
• 6: Zhang Z, et al. Uptake and distribution of sodium selenite in rat brain tumor. Biological Trace Element Research. 1995 Apr; 48(1): 45-50.