Prostate Cancer Prevention Study Halted
Prostate Cancer Prevention Study Halted
Vitamin E, Selenium No Help in Preventing Prostate Cancer
Oct. 28, 2008 -- The National Cancer Institute has halted its $114 million study of whether vitamin E and selenium can prevent prostate cancer.
They can't -- at least not in the formulations and dosages used in the study, called SELECT (SELenium and vitamin ECancer prevention Trial). The safety panel for the 35,000-man study called for a halt when an early look at the data showed no benefit for the treatment.
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There were slightly moreprostate cancers in men taking vitamin E alone, and slightly more diabetes in men taking only selenium. But neither finding was statistically significant, meaning they were likely due to chance.
"The data to date suggest, but do not prove, that vitamin E may slightly increase the chance of getting prostate cancer, and that selenium may increase the chance of getting diabetes mellitus," warns a letter sent to study participants by the Southwest Oncology Group, which ran the NCI-funded study.
Study participants were told to stop taking the two pills they'd been taking every day since the trial opened in 2001. The men received either vitamin E (400 milligrams) and selenium (200 micrograms), vitamin E and placebo, selenium and placebo, or placebos alone.
The men can now ask to be told which treatment they received. And because the study was designed to look at more than just prostate cancer (it received an additional $16.5 million from various NIH agencies), study participants will continue to receive regular checkups.
"SELECT was always designed as a study that would answer more than a single question about prostate cancer," Cleveland Clinic researcher and study co-chair Eric Klein, MD, says in a news release. "As we continue to monitor the health of these 35,000 men, this information may help us understand why two nutrients that showed strong initial evidence to be able to prevent prostate cancer did not do so."
That evidence included a 1998 Finnish study of whether vitamin E could prevent lung cancer in some 30,000 smokers. It didn't, but men taking vitamin E had 32% fewer prostate cancers.
Prostate Cancer Prevention Study Halted
Vitamin E, Selenium No Help in Preventing Prostate Cancer
Oct. 28, 2008 -- The National Cancer Institute has halted its $114 million study of whether vitamin E and selenium can prevent prostate cancer.
They can't -- at least not in the formulations and dosages used in the study, called SELECT (SELenium and vitamin ECancer prevention Trial). The safety panel for the 35,000-man study called for a halt when an early look at the data showed no benefit for the treatment.
Cancer Videos
Video: Cancer andExercise
Video: MakingChemotherapy Safer
Video: Foods AfterCancer
All Cancer-RelatedVideos
Related Slideshows
Related to
lymphoma, leukemia, chemotherapy, radiation, mammogram, PSA test , colonoscopy, herceptin, tamoxifen, breast cancer -- Colposcopy, lung cancer, skin cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, colon cancer
© 2008 WebMD, LLC. All rightsreserved.
There were slightly moreprostate cancers in men taking vitamin E alone, and slightly more diabetes in men taking only selenium. But neither finding was statistically significant, meaning they were likely due to chance.
"The data to date suggest, but do not prove, that vitamin E may slightly increase the chance of getting prostate cancer, and that selenium may increase the chance of getting diabetes mellitus," warns a letter sent to study participants by the Southwest Oncology Group, which ran the NCI-funded study.
Study participants were told to stop taking the two pills they'd been taking every day since the trial opened in 2001. The men received either vitamin E (400 milligrams) and selenium (200 micrograms), vitamin E and placebo, selenium and placebo, or placebos alone.
The men can now ask to be told which treatment they received. And because the study was designed to look at more than just prostate cancer (it received an additional $16.5 million from various NIH agencies), study participants will continue to receive regular checkups.
"SELECT was always designed as a study that would answer more than a single question about prostate cancer," Cleveland Clinic researcher and study co-chair Eric Klein, MD, says in a news release. "As we continue to monitor the health of these 35,000 men, this information may help us understand why two nutrients that showed strong initial evidence to be able to prevent prostate cancer did not do so."
That evidence included a 1998 Finnish study of whether vitamin E could prevent lung cancer in some 30,000 smokers. It didn't, but men taking vitamin E had 32% fewer prostate cancers.
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