IU Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Looking For Several Good Men
INDIANAPOLIS -- Can nutritional supplements protect males against prostate cancer? That's what medical researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine hope to help answer in the largest prostate cancer prevention study ever launched by the National Cancer Institute.
Healthy males 55 years and older are needed for the study. The IU Cancer Center, a member of the Southwest Oncology Group, is among 400 sites in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico participating in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). The study will take up to 12 years to complete and seeks to enlist more than 32,000 men.
Selenium and vitamin E, both naturally occurring nutrients, are antioxidants, capable of neutralizing toxins known as "free radicals" that might otherwise damage cells and lead to cancer.
"SELECT is the first study designed to look directly at the effects of these two nutrients," says Michael O. Koch, M.D., chairman of the IU Department of Urology. "Previous research involving selenium and vitamin E suggests they might prevent prostate cancer, but we don't know for sure. When this study is finished we will know what benefits these supplements offer to patients."
Prostate cancer is second only to skin cancer as the most common form affecting men. This year, more than 198,000 American males will be diagnosed with prostate cancer with nearly 32,000 dying from the disease. In Indiana, 4,400 will get prostate cancer and 700 will die of it.
The IU trial seeks males who are 55 and older (50 and older for African-Americans) who have never had prostate cancer or other cancers with the exception of non-melanoma skin cancer in the last five years; and are generally in good health. Central Indiana men participating in the study will visit the IU Cancer Center every six months. Upon enrollment, they will be assigned by chance to one of four groups.
Those interested in participating in the study should call the Department of Urology at 317-630-6044, or clinical research coordinator Janis Aichinger, RN, at 317-630-8913.
For more information about the SELECT study and prostate cancer, visit the following Web sites:
National Cancer Institute
http://cancer.gov/select
Southwest Oncology Group
http://swog.org (choose SELECT)
IU School of Medicine, Department of Urology
http://www.iupui.edu/%7Eurology/
Clinical Trials at the Indiana University School of Medicine
http://medicine.iupui.edu/ctp.
Media Contact: Joe Stuteville
Tel: (317)274-7722
Email: jstutevi@iupui.edu
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