Archive for the ‘alpha tocopherol’ Category

Vitamin E Found In Vegetable Oil Could Help Fight Cancer, Study Suggests

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Posted 06 May 2012 — by James Street
Category alpha tocopherol, gamma-trocopherol

Posted: 04/29/2012 12:38 am Updated: 04/29/2012 12:38 am

Vitamin E Cancer

The verdict has not been totally clear on vitamin E’s role in cancer prevention — some research has suggested the vitamin might help to protect against cancer, while others have shown it either not having an effect on cancer risk or even increasing cancer risk.

But now, a new study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research shows that two forms of vitamin E — found in corn, soybean and canola oils — may have cancer-fighting properties.

“Our message is that the vitamin E form of gamma-tocopherols, the most abundant form of vitamin E in the American diet, and delta-tocopherols, also found in vegetable oils, are beneficial in preventing cancers while the form of vitamin E, alpha- tocopherol, the most commonly used in vitamin E supplements, has no such benefit,” study researcher Chung S. Yang, director of the Center for Cancer Prevention Research at Rutgers, said in a statement.

Yang and his colleagues fed animals the vitamin E form that is found in the vegetable oils, and found that the gamma and delta-tocopherol forms of vitamin E worked to stop cancer from developing and growing.

Yang added that a past study in the journal Cancer Prevention Research shows that the delta-tocopheral vitamin E form stops colon cancer development in rats more so than other kinds of vitamin E.

Last year, a study of 35,533 men was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showing that taking vitamin E supplements is actually linked with an increased prostate cancer risk. However, Yang said that the vitamin E supplements in that study had the alpha-tocopherol form of vitamin E — not the delta or gamma-tocopheral versions. Therefore, he said, more research is needed to see the effects of all the different kinds of vitamin E.

HuffPost blogger Craig Cooper, founder of Cooperative Health, wrote in a blog post last year that there are actually eight forms of vitamin E — and some may have different effects than others on cancer.

Oxaliplatin-Induced Neuropathy: Oxidative Stress as Pathological Mechanism. Protective Effect of Silibinin

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Posted 16 Mar 2012 — by James Street
Category alpha tocopherol, antioxidants, Silibinin

Deparment of Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Received 30 August 2011; received in revised form 22 November 2011; accepted 28 November 2011. published online 13 February 2012.

Abstract

Oxaliplatin is the standard treatment for advanced colorectal cancer. Its dose-limiting toxicity is the development of a painful neuropathic syndrome sustained by unclear mechanisms. Although the oxidative hypothesis is a matter of debate, direct data about oxidative damage induced in vivo by anticancer agents are lacking and the efficacy of the available antioxidant compounds are unsatisfactory. In a rat model of painful oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy (2.4 mgkg−1 i.p., daily for 21 days), we described an important component of oxidative stress. In the plasma of oxaliplatin-treated rats, the increases in carbonylated protein and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were the index of the resultant protein oxidation and lipoperoxidation, respectively. The same pattern of oxidation was revealed also in the sciatic nerve, and in the spinal cord where the damage reached the DNA level. The antioxidant compound silibinin (100 mgkg−1 per os), administered once a day, starting from the first day of oxaliplatin injection until the 20th, prevented oxidative damage as did α-tocopherol. Repetitive administration of silibinin, as well as α-tocopherol, reduced oxaliplatin-dependent pain induced by mechanical and thermal stimuli. Antioxidants were also able to improve motor coordination. The antineuropathic effect of both molecules improved by about 50% oxaliplatin-induced behavioral alterations.

Perspective

This study characterizes oxidative stress parameters in a rat model of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy. A relationship between the improvement of oxidative alterations and pain relief is established in rats treated with natural antioxidant compounds like α-tocopherol and silibinin. Silibinin could be a valid therapeutic option for chemotherapy-induced neuropathy.

Key words: Neuropathic pain, α-tocopherol, disease modifying agent, lipoperoxidation, carbonylated protein

Prevention of cytotoxic drug induced skin ulcers with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and α-tocopherole

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Posted 17 Jun 2011 — by James Street
Category alpha tocopherol, antioxidants, Chemotherapy, DMSO, Lung Cancer



Christian U. LudwidCorresponding Author Contact Information, a, Hans-Rudolf Stolla, Reto Obristla and Jean-Paul Obrechta

aDivision of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine of the University, Kantonsspital, Basel, Switzerland

Accepted 11 September 1986.
Available online 12 May 2004.

 

Abstract

Accidental subcutaneous extravasation of several antineoplastic agents may provoke skin ulcerations for which there has been no simple and effective treatment. Since January 1983 we have treated all patients in our institution sustaining extravasation by a cytotoxic drug with a combination of DMSO and α-Tocopherole. During the first 48 hr after extravasation a mixture of 10% α-Tocopherole acetate and 90% DMSO was topically applied. The bandage was changed every 12 hr. So far eight patients with extravasation of an anthracycline or Mitomycin were treated on this protocol. No skin ulceration, functional or neurovascular impairment occured in any of these patients. The only toxic effect observed by this treatment was a minor skin irritation. The combination of DMSO and α-Tocopherole seems to prevent skin ulceration induced by anthracyclines and Mitomycin.

star, openPresented in Part at the IV World Conference on Lung Cancer, 25–30 August 1985, Toronto, Canada.