Tocotrienols Vitamin E can Fight Against Cancer?

Every year hundreds of thousands of people are victims of a form of cancer. A report created by the National Institutes of Health estimated the total cost of cancer to be $ 263.8 billion in medical costs. This includes direct medical costs, costs of morbidity, mortality and indirect costs. Once all standard cancer treatment methods are highly invasive (chemotherapy, radiation and surgery) and plagued by side effects, alternative treatment methods are constantly sought. An interesting new option is treatment with vitamin E tocotrienols. A number of early studies were conducted to demonstrate the potential of this vitamin in treating cancer in future plans.

Tumor growth

For a tumor to grow beyond 1 to 2 mm diameter, a sort of independent supply of blood is required. Otherwise, the cancer can not spread and stops the growth of the tumor. Tumors are capable of releasing growth factors that initiate angiogenesis that causes blood vessels exist to create new "classes" which supplies the tumor with a blood supply.

Studies have shown that one of the mechanisms that tocotrienols used to prevent the metastasis of cancer is the inhibition of angiogenesis. Delta and gamma tocotrienols are particularly powerful in this regard.
 
Breast cancer

Breast cancer is the second as a cause of cancer death in women. Breast cancer Standard treatment involves the drug tamoxifen. Although quite beneficial in the treatment of breast cancer, tamoxifen has its inherent risks. The long-term treatment with the drug increases the chances of a woman (though a rare chance) of developing serious health problems: endometrial cancer, blot clots in the lungs and a blood clot in the veins main.

Several studies have been done on tocotrienols ability to treat breast cancer. A 1998 publication in the Journal of Nutrition and Cancer confirmed that delta-tocotrienols to are able to induce apoptosis (cell death). Another study published in the journal BMC Cancer showed that gamma-tocotrienols in conjuncture with breast cancer drugs reduce anti-growth of cancer cells in the breast cancer cells of mice in culture. Yet another study showed that gamma-tocotrienol could prevent tumor implanted mice to take a sample.

Prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed male cancer in the United States and the third most common cause of cancer death in men. Search Davos Life Science, Australian researchers Prostate Cancer Research Center and the University of Hong Kong showed that gamma-tocotrienol not only reduced tumor size, but also a decreased incidence of tumor formation 75 %. This study is important because the stem cells of prostate cancer (tumor precursor of cancer) is resistant to conventional chemotherapy and therefore very difficult to handle.

Pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer causes 30,000 deaths annually in the United States. Pancreatic cancer is a highly effective cancer, with less than 5% of those diagnosed still alive five years after diagnosis. An animal study conducted by researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center showed that the combination of gamma-tocotrienol with chemotherapy increased efficacy in the treatment of tumors. In prostate cancer protein complex NF-KappB is sequestered by the cancer cell. NF-KappB normally controls the cellular response to stress and plays a key role in regulating the immune system. The only alternative available to treat the tumor is nutrition. Tocotrienols can differentiate between a cancer cell and a normal cell and thus alter NF-kappB accordingly.

Other cancers

Palm tocotrienol oil reduces in vitro cervical cancer. In vivo and in vitro study showed suppression of liver and lung carcinogenesis in rats. Gamma-delta-tocotrienols and are also capable of inhibiting cancerous melanoma cells in vitro.

One last thing to note is that a scholarship several million dollars by the National Cancer Institute recently received the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute to conduct clinical trials on the effect 'tocotrienols in pancreatic cancer.