Prostate cancer is a silent killer. In most men it is treatable, but in some cases it resists all known therapies and becomes extremely fatal.
Professor Lloyd Trotman’s team has found that the pro-oxidant supplement menadione slows the progression of prostate cancer in mice. This supplement is a precursor to vitamin K, which is commonly found in green leafy vegetables. Menadione is a synthetic compound that acts as a form of vitamin K (specifically, vitamin K3).
The story begins more than two decades ago.
In 2001, the National Cancer Institute’s SELECT trial attempted to determine whether an antioxidant vitamin E supplement could treat or prevent prostate cancer.
The study, carried out on 35,000 men, was to last up to 12 years, but was stopped after three. The cause? The results showed that not only did vitamin E fail to slow or prevent prostate cancer, but the vitamin supplement was associated with an increase in men who began to develop the disease.
Seeing these results, Trotman thought: «YesIf an antioxidant failed, maybe a prooxidant would work».
Their new findings published in ‘Science’ in mice confirm this.
The researchers explain that when mice with prostate cancer receive menadione, it interferes with the cancer survival processes.
Trotman’s team discovered that menadione destroys cancer cells by depleting a lipid called PI(3)P, which acts as an identification tag.
Without it, cells stop recycling incoming materials and eventually explode.
It is, Trotman compares, “as if at a large airport, like JFK in New York, only planes landed, but none took off. Well, in this case, the tumor cell receives different elements but does not release them and, thus, it swells until it explodes and dies.
When cancer cells die, there is a significant slowdown in cancer progression in mice.
Target population
Now, says Trotman, we need to apply these experiments in pilot studies with human prostate cancer patients: “Our target group would be men who undergo biopsies and have an early form of the disease. We wonder if, by starting to take the supplement, we could slow the progression of the disease».
Surprisingly, Trotman’s research suggests that menadione could also be effective against myotubular myopathy, a rare condition that prevents muscle growth in baby boys.
Those diagnosed rarely survive beyond childhood. Trotman’s lab found that depleting PI(3)P with menadione can double the lifespan of mice with this condition.
If the results are confirmed in humans, it would mean that men with prostate cancer could enjoy a better quality of life and more time with their families. It could also mean more precious time for children born with an incurable disease.
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