The most common water-soluble form of selenium, sodium selenite, has been shown to kill mesothelioma cells in cell cultures. Now, researchers are discovering why it works.
In a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, investigators aimed to determine the pathways by which selenite kills mesothelioma cells, and why sarcomatoid cells (the least common, but deadliest form of cancer) seem to be most sensitve to selenite treatment.
“The key challenge is to find substances that act specifically against cancer cells but not against healthy cells. Selenite appears to have this kind of specificity,” explains Gustav Nilsonne, MD.
Researchers treated both epithelioid (most common form of mesothelioma) and sarcomatoid cells with selenite and then looked the processes within the cancer cells that caused them to die. Selenite triggered cell death in 15 percent of sarcomatoid cells, compared to just 8 percent of epithelioid mesothelioma cells. Total cell death after 24 hours of treatment was about 25 percent in the epithelioid cells and 30 percent in the sarcomatoid cells.
This shows that selenite is a promising new treatment for mesothelioma, but the use of selenite is still experimental and further research is needed to confirm its safety and effectiveness.
Mesothelioma is an aggressive, usually fatal, form of cancer that afflicts people who have worked around asbestos. In fact, asbestos exposure is the only known way to contract this form of cancer.
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