{"id":631,"date":"2017-08-27T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2017-08-27T16:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seleniumfacts.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2017-08-28T13:14:50","modified_gmt":"2017-08-28T13:14:50","slug":"selenium-breast-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seleniumfacts.com\/index.php\/selenium-breast-cancer","title":{"rendered":"Selenium supplements and breast cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Studies show that selenium intake and status are associated with breast cancer risk.\u00a0 Low selenium status indicates an increased risk of breast cancer.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In many countries, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed and treated form of cancer.\u00a0 A 2014 meta-analysis of 16 studies has shown that there is a statistically significant association between serum selenium status and risk of breast cancer.\u00a0 The lower the serum selenium concentration, the greater the risk of breast cancer<\/a> [Babaknejad].<\/strong><\/p>\n

What do we know about selenium and breast cancer?<\/strong>
\nBreast cancer is a frustrating topic for the selenium researcher.\u00a0 There is not enough evidence to permit definitive statements about the effects of selenium supplementation on the prevention of breast cancer.<\/p>\n

For example, the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer<\/a> (NPC) study \u2013 a study that showed significant associations between selenium supplementation and reduced risk of colorectal, lung, prostate, and total cancer \u2013 did not enroll enough women for the effect of selenium supplementation on breast cancer to be studied [Clark].<\/p>\n

Evidence about selenium and breast cancer<\/strong>
\nCancer cell line studies have shown that selenium yeast<\/a> has beneficial effects on oxidative stress, tumor growth inhibition, and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells [Guo].<\/p>\n

Cancer cell line studies have also shown that supplemental selenium and the anti-cancer chemotherapy drug cisplatin, combined, can result in a significant anti-breast cancer effect <\/a>[Sakalli \u00c7etin].<\/p>\n

Animal studies have consistently shown that selenium supplementation helps to suppress the formation of breast cancer cells [Ekoue].<\/p>\n

Most human epidemiological studies (reports of observational studies) have shown an inverse association between selenium status and intakes and the risk of breast cancer [Ekoue].<\/p>\n

Dr. Cai and a team of researchers have done a meta-analysis of 69 observational studies of selenium exposure and cancer risk<\/a>.\u00a0 14 of the studies had breast cancer as an outcome.\u00a0 The data from the 14 studies show that higher selenium exposure was significantly associated with decreased risk of breast cancer [Cai].<\/p>\n

Variations in selenoproteins and breast cancer incidence<\/strong>
\nMuch of the current research on selenium and breast cancer focuses on the expression of important selenium containing selenoproteins and the risk of breast cancer.<\/a><\/p>\n

This type of research seeks to establish an association between the different functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the selenoproteins SEPP1, GPX1, and GPX4, for example, and the risk of breast cancer.\u00a0 The available data do show evidence of a role for selenoproteins in the inhibiting of the development of breast cancer [M\u00e9plan].<\/p>\n

Polymorphisms in selenoproteins<\/strong>
\nOkay, single nucleotide polymorphisms?\u00a0 What are we talking about?\u00a0 Where to start?<\/p>\n

Basically, the DNA sequences in genes provide the information that the cells need to make proteins.\u00a0 Genes coding for any one specific protein can have a number of differences in DNA sequencing within a population.<\/p>\n

Polymorphisms are small variations in the DNA sequence of genes.\u00a0 Polymorphisms are common enough in populations that the differences they cause are not considered unusual in the way that mutations are considered unusual.<\/p>\n

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are variations in a single base pair in a DNA sequence.\u00a0 And the interesting questions seem to be:<\/p>\n