IU prostate cancer prevention trial has begun

By Mary Hardin

Healthy males 55 years and older are needed for the study. The IU Cancer Center, a member of the Southwest Oncology Group, is among 400 sites in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico participating in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). The study will take up to 12 years to complete and seeks to enlist more than 32,000 men.

Selenium and vitamin E, both naturally occurring nutrients, are antioxidants, capable of neutralizing toxins known as "free radicals" that might otherwise damage cells and lead to cancer.

“SELECT is the first study designed to look directly at the effects of these two nutrients," said Dr. Michael Koch, chairman of the IU Department of Urology. "Previous research involving selenium and vitamin E suggests they might prevent prostate cancer, but we don't know for sure. When this study is finished we will know what benefits these supplements offer to patients."

http://www.medicine.indiana.edu/news_releases/archive_01/prostate_study.html