A Diet Lacking Selenium, but Not Zinc, Copper or Manganese, Induces Anticancer Activity in Mice with Metastatic Cancers

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 16; no. 14; p. 2249
• Main Authors: Díaz-Ortega, Patricia, Calderón-Montaño, José Manuel, Jiménez-Alonso, Julio José, Guillén-Mancina, Emilio, Jiménez-González, Víctor, Burgos-Morón, Estefanía, López-Lázaro, Miguel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 12-07-2024
• Subjects: Animals; Antioxidants; antitumor activity; Breast cancer; cancer; Cancer therapies; Cell Line, Tumor; Cells; colon cancer; Colonic Neoplasms - diet therapy; Colonic Neoplasms - drug therapy; Colonic Neoplasms - pathology; Colorectal cancer; Copper; Defense mechanisms; Diet; Drug dosages; Enzymes; Experiments; Female; Humans; Manganese - administration & dosage; Metastasis; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Neoplasm Metastasis; Ovarian cancer; Ovarian Neoplasms - diet therapy; Ovarian Neoplasms - drug therapy; Ovarian Neoplasms - pathology; Patients; Proteins; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Selenium; Selenium - administration & dosage; Selenium - pharmacology; Toxicity; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Zinc; Zinc - pharmacology; United States > US; breast cancer; cancer; antitumor activity; metastasis; ovarian cancer; colon cancer
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu16142249

Selenium, zinc, copper, and manganese are essential components of antioxidant enzymes involved in the elimination of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Given that cancer cells produce high levels of ROS and the accumulation of ROS can lead to cell death, cancer cells may be susceptible to strategies that reduce ROS elimination. In this work, we prepared several artificial diets that contained normal carbohydrate, protein, and lipid levels but lacked selenium, zinc, copper, or manganese. The anticancer activity of these diets was examined in a metastatic ovarian cancer model, established by injecting ID8
murine ovarian cancer cells into the peritoneal cavity of C57BL/6JRj mice. Treatments started 15 days later and consisted of replacing a normal diet with one of the artificial diets for several weeks. A significant improvement in mice survival was observed when the normal diet was replaced with the selenium-free diet. Diets lacking zinc, copper, or manganese showed no significant impact on mice survival. All diets were very well tolerated. The anticancer efficacy of a diet lacking selenium was confirmed in mice with metastatic colon cancer and in mice with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. These results suggest that diets lacking selenium hold potential for the treatment of metastatic cancers.