Prostate cancer

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Scientists discover an important way that vitamin E and its associated protein (called TAP) slows the growth of prostate cancer

 

 

 

Epidemiological studies suggest that vitamin E has a protective effect against prostate cancer. In this study, researchers at the Department of Urology at the University of Rochester have found that a protein called TAP (short for tocopherol-associated protein) - a protein that binds with vitamin E, promoted the entry of vitamin E into the cells of the prostate and improved the ability of vitamin E to slow the growth of prostate cancer cells. Even elevating the level of TAP on its own had a negative effect on prostate cancer cells, and both TAP and vitamin E fight prostate cancer in different ways. TAP levels were decreased in prostate cancer tissue samples but not in normal prostate tissue samples.Previously one of the authors of the current study published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences illustrating that vitamin E interferes with two proteins that play key roles in the development of prostate cancer. The researchers found that vitamin E interferes with the ability of the prostate cancer cells to create PSA and it also inhibits the formation of androgen receptor sites, making it more difficult for androgens to fuel the growth of prostate cancer (a key strategy for fighting prostate cancer with drugs such as Lupron and Casodex is blocking androgens, and recently it has been found that PSA rather than being a benign blood marker for diagnosing prostate cancer may actually play a part in the worsening and spread of prostate cancer). The study is published in the November 1st, 2005 issue of the journal Cancer Research.