Men needed The University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center is looking for "more than a few good men" to participate in a national prevention study for prostate cancer, said Brian Issell, clinical science program director.
for study on
prostate cancer
The study will look at effects
of selenium and vitamin EBy Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comTwo common dietary supplements, selenium and vitamin E, will be tested.
"It's really an important study," Issell said, "because there has been some interesting information that ... both these things may actually prevent prostate cancer from forming."
He said the research center hopes to get about 100 Hawaii volunteers a year. "The better representation we have of men from all ethnic backgrounds ensures that everyone can benefit from the knowledge gained in this study," he said.
More than 32,000 men at 400 sites in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada are sought for the study for the next 10 to 12 years.
The Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Trial, called SELECT, is the largest prevention study for prostate cancer conducted by the National Cancer Institute. It is the first to look specifically at the effects of vitamin E and selenium, together and separately, in preventing prostate cancer.
Such studies are necessary not only to confirm protective effects but to make sure there isn't an opposite effect, Issell said. For example, he noted studies of beta carotene, believed beneficial for smokers, showed it actually increased risks of lung cancer.
Men who are 55 or older may volunteer for the SELECT trial if they have never had any cancer except non-melanoma skin cancer in the past five years and are in reasonably good health.
They will be asked to visit the study site at the Cancer Research Center in downtown Honolulu once every six months for about 30 minutes.
"Because a lot of people are hooked on their vitamins and don't want to give them up," Issell said, they will receive special multivitamins in the study without vitamin E and selenium.
Participants will be divided into four groups, with each person getting two capsules. One group will get vitamin E and selenium capsules. Another group will get vitamin E in one capsule and a placebo, or substitute, in the second capsule instead of selenium. The third group will get selenium in one capsule and a placebo instead of vitamin E in the other one. Participants in the fourth group will get two placebos.
Selenium and vitamin E are antioxidant nutrients capable of neutralizing toxins known as "free radicals" that might damage cells and possibly lead to cancer.
An average of 704 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed annually in Hawaii, according to the Cancer Research Center. About 145 island men die each year from that cancer.
Richard Mizuta, coordinator for Us Too, a local prostate cancer support group, said: "The men who join SELECT not only have a chance to prevent prostate cancer for themselves, but they also may help their sons and grandsons live free from the disease.
"It's also exciting to think that some things as common and inexpensive as selenium and vitamin E can help men reduce their chances of getting prostate cancer."
For more information about prostate cancer, call the Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
To enroll in the SELECT study, call James Tom at the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii's Clinical Trials Unit, 586-2979.