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Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment

Selenium is generally known as an antioxidant due to its presence in selenoproteins as selenocysteine, but it is also toxic. The toxic effects of selenium are, however, strictly concentration and chemical species dependent. One class of selenium compounds is a potent inhibitor of cell growth with re...

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Autores principales: Misra, Sougat, Boylan, Mallory, Selvam, Arun, Spallholz, Julian E., Björnstedt, Mikael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4446766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25984742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu7053536
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author Misra, Sougat
Boylan, Mallory
Selvam, Arun
Spallholz, Julian E.
Björnstedt, Mikael
author_facet Misra, Sougat
Boylan, Mallory
Selvam, Arun
Spallholz, Julian E.
Björnstedt, Mikael
author_sort Misra, Sougat
collection PubMed
description Selenium is generally known as an antioxidant due to its presence in selenoproteins as selenocysteine, but it is also toxic. The toxic effects of selenium are, however, strictly concentration and chemical species dependent. One class of selenium compounds is a potent inhibitor of cell growth with remarkable tumor specificity. These redox active compounds are pro-oxidative and highly cytotoxic to tumor cells and are promising candidates to be used in chemotherapy against cancer. Herein we elaborate upon the major forms of dietary selenium compounds, their metabolic pathways, and their antioxidant and pro-oxidant potentials with emphasis on cytotoxic mechanisms. Relative cytotoxicity of inorganic selenite and organic selenocystine compounds to different cancer cells are presented as evidence to our perspective. Furthermore, new novel classes of selenium compounds specifically designed to target tumor cells are presented and the potential of selenium in modern oncology is extensively discussed.
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spelling pubmed-44467662015-05-29 Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment Misra, Sougat Boylan, Mallory Selvam, Arun Spallholz, Julian E. Björnstedt, Mikael Nutrients Review Selenium is generally known as an antioxidant due to its presence in selenoproteins as selenocysteine, but it is also toxic. The toxic effects of selenium are, however, strictly concentration and chemical species dependent. One class of selenium compounds is a potent inhibitor of cell growth with remarkable tumor specificity. These redox active compounds are pro-oxidative and highly cytotoxic to tumor cells and are promising candidates to be used in chemotherapy against cancer. Herein we elaborate upon the major forms of dietary selenium compounds, their metabolic pathways, and their antioxidant and pro-oxidant potentials with emphasis on cytotoxic mechanisms. Relative cytotoxicity of inorganic selenite and organic selenocystine compounds to different cancer cells are presented as evidence to our perspective. Furthermore, new novel classes of selenium compounds specifically designed to target tumor cells are presented and the potential of selenium in modern oncology is extensively discussed. MDPI 2015-05-13 /pmc/articles/PMC4446766/ /pubmed/25984742 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu7053536 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Misra, Sougat
Boylan, Mallory
Selvam, Arun
Spallholz, Julian E.
Björnstedt, Mikael
Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment
title Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment
title_full Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment
title_fullStr Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment
title_full_unstemmed Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment
title_short Redox-Active Selenium Compounds—From Toxicity and Cell Death to Cancer Treatment
title_sort redox-active selenium compounds—from toxicity and cell death to cancer treatment
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4446766/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25984742
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu7053536
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