BUFFALO, N.Y., April 17 A U.S. study suggests selenium might offer an intervention strategy for the treatment of prostate cancer.Yan Hu of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute said selenium, an effective chemopreventive agent for prostate cancer, has been found to down-regulate interleukin-6, of IL-6 -- a cytokine that induces the progression of the spread of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells.Most prostate cancer patients respond initially to anti-androgen therapy, but virtually all patients relapse due to the growth of androgen-independent tumor cells promoted by the overexpression of IL-6.Hu posits down-regulation of the cytokine by selenium might present an interventional strategy in prostate cancer therapy.He presented his study Monday in Los Angeles during the 2007 centennial meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.The Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898 in Buffalo, N.Y., is the nation's first cancer research, treatment and education center.Copyright 2007 by UPI
