Different form of Vitamin E on clinical trial for CRPC at PA soon

[JimJimJimJim]

Jim Marshall (not a doctor) said ...

In our topic New numbers on Vitamin E and Selenium bleaker for Vitamin E we reported a recent study which confirmed that " Vitamin E supplementation significantly increased risk of prostate cancer."

Well it turns out that there are eight different forms of Vitamin E.

Half are called tocopherol.

• They are tocopherol alpha, tocopherol beta, tocopherol delta, and tocopherol gamma.
  

Half are called tocotrienol.

• They are tocotrienol alpha, tocotrienol beta, tocotrienol delta, and tocotrienol gamma.
  

Earlier this month (July 2012) I was fortunate to attend a research seminar presented by Dr Patrick Ling who has been researching these tocotrienol Vitamin E components.

Dr Ling clearly laid out the comprehensive research he and his colleagues have gathered on the tocotrienols.

He reported that a clinical trial was about to start. One of his colleagues Director of Urology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Dr Simon Wood is also involved. About 50 men will be recruited in Brisbane for the trial, testing one tocotrienol form of Vitamin E.

Unfortunately for men who would like to take some palm oil (the source for this trial) themselves, the active ingredient under study only occurs in infinitely small amounts. The doses to be used in the study are thousands of times larger than you would get in any food (and very expensive to extract). So, food is not a good source of the tocotrienol under trial. Such very large doses have been tested in other studies against other diseases and are apparently very safe.

If you have castrate resistant prostate cancer (rising PSA despite confirmed low level of testosterone), watch for details of the trial.

Below is an extract from a Malaysian newspaper on the story, and a link.

... end Jim

Based on the promising animal studies using gamma-delta tocotrienols, the researchers are hoping to see similar effects in delaying the progression of CRPC, which will likely have lesser side effects than docetaxel. The two-year trial will involve 50 prostate cancer patients from UMMC and KLGH. Simultaneous trials at Australia’s Princess Alexandra Hospital (at Brisbane, Queensland) will also see participation of another 50 patients.

...

“We are hoping that tocotrienols might be able to delay the progression of prostate cancer without any serious side effects.”

Click on this link to see the full story from The Star:

Vitamin E to fight prostate cancer

[LennyJoe]

Jim,

I found this a very timely topic. Here is a short rundown of my experiences with prostate cancer and vitamin E with tocotrienol.

I had a radical prostatectomy in November 2009 and with higher then expected PSA readings follwing surgery had follow-up external beam radiation therapy in mid 2010. However, the PSA did not drop following EBRT and continued to rise steadily (rising about just under 50% every six months), albeit from a reasonably low reading. After reading a snippet of information in one of the Prostate Cancer News issues about 18 months ago I decided to try this vitamin E with gamma, alpha and delta tocotrienol. With the approval of my specialist, I started taking one capsule of 100 international units per day for a period of four months. After that time I had both a general blood test and a PSA test. The PSA test showed that for a six month period, including the 4 months I took Vitamin E with totoctienol, the PSA reading was stable (actually a slight drop of about 6% on the previous reading). However, the general blood test showed liver enzimes had increased by as much as 500% above the normal range. On my GP's advice I stoped taking the vitamin E with tocotrienol as that was the only thing that had changed in my diet. Two follow-up general blood tests at 3 monthly intervals showed a return to normal for the liver enzime counts over the six months. However, the PSA level had again increased at just under 50% in that same 6 month period after ceasing tocotrienol.

I had a consultation with my GP this morning and we discussed this issue. He has recommended that I again commence taking the same vitamin E with tocotrienol and we will do a general blood test in six months which will co-incide with the PSA test for the prostate specialist. This may give us some indication as to whether or not the liver count was affected by the tocotrienol and whether or not tocotrienol may have been the cause of the slight drop in PSA over the particular six month period. I will post those results when known.

Regards

LennyJoe