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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

prostate cancer, risk reduction, selenium, molecular basis, cancer prevention

College

Life Sciences

Department

Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in American men.1 Results from a cancer prevention trial performed by Clark et.al.2 show that selenium (Se) supplementation in male subjects reduced cancer incidence by 75%. The molecular basis for the chemopreventive effect of Se merits attention in molecular biology research. For the past six months, my research has focused on the impact of Se-supplemented medium on gene expression of transformed human prostate epithelial cells (entitled LNCaP cells) grown in culture. Through differential display methods, tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes that are either upregulated by high Se levels or downregulated by control Se levels may be determined. Preliminary to differential display, I had to determine the levels of Se supplementation in the form of sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) in cell culture medium that are ideal for control and high Se treatment groups. Three important issues were considered: (1) prostate tissue in the whole organism is only exposed to Se in the blood, so the concentration of Se in the high Se treatment group must be serum-achievable; (2) control Se levels must be high enough to maximize cytosolic selenoenzyme activity; (3) Se supplementation at any level must not be cytotoxic.

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