VCU's Massey Cancer Center to enroll men in largest-ever prostate cancer prevention trial

By Erin Lucero
Office of Development, School of Medicine

RICHMOND, Va. – Healthy men ages 55 and older are needed for the largest-ever prostate cancer prevention study, to be launched on July 24 by the National Cancer Institute. Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center is one of more than 400 sites in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada to participate in the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial, known as SELECT. The trial, which will include a total of 32,400 men, will evaluate whether the two dietary supplements can protect against prostate cancer, the most common form of cancer in men, after skin cancer.

"SELECT is the first study designed to look directly at the effects of vitamin E and selenium, both separately and together, in preventing prostate cancer," said Unyime Nseyo, M.D., chairman of urology in VCU’s School of Medicine and principal investigator of the Massey Cancer Center-arm of the SELECT trial. "Previous research involving the two supplements suggested that these nutrients might prevent prostate cancer, but we don’t know for sure. When SELECT is finished we will have our answer."

This year alone in Virginia, prostate cancer will be diagnosed in about 4,900 men and 800 will die of the disease. In the United States, 198,100 men will get prostate cancer, and more than 31,500 men are expected to die of it. Risk factors for the disease include being over age 55, being black or having a father or brother with prostate cancer. Because the disease strikes African-American men at a younger age, they will be eligible to enroll in the study at age 50, vs. age 55 for other racial and ethnic groups.

"It is crucial that men of all races and ethnic backgrounds participate in SELECT," said Nseyo. "And since African-American men have the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world, we especially encourage them to consider joining this trial."

Selenium and vitamin E, both naturally occurring nutrients, are antioxidants. They are capable of neutralizing toxins, known as "free radicals" that might otherwise damage the genetic material of cells and possibly lead to cancer. These nutrients were chosen for study because of the promise they showed in cancer prevention trials for nonmelanoma skin cancer and lung cancer.

Study participants from the Central Virginia area will visit VCU’s Massey Cancer Center once every six months. When they enroll in the trial, they will be assigned randomly to one of four groups. One group will take 200 micrograms of selenium daily plus a placebo that looks like vitamin E. Another group will take 400 milligrams of vitamin E daily along with a placebo that looks like selenium. A third group will take both selenium and vitamin E. And a final group will be given two placebos.

Men who join SELECT will not need to change their diet in any way, but they must stop taking any supplements they buy themselves that contain selenium or vitamin E. If participants wish to take a multivitamin, the Massey Cancer Center will provide, without charge, a specially formulated one that does not contain selenium or vitamin E. The trial will take up to 12 years to complete. Study investigators hope to recruit all the study participants during the first five years of the trial, so that each man can be followed for at least seven years. Men may be able to participate in SELECT if they:

• are age 55 or older; age 50 or older for African-American men;

• have never had prostate cancer and have not had any other cancer, except nonmelanoma skin cancer, in the last five years; and

• are generally in good health.

Men interested in joining the study can call the Massey Cancer Center at 1-800-925-8821. For more information about the study or prostate cancer, call the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) for information in English or Spanish. The number for callers with TTY equipment is 1-800-332-8615. On the Web, visit the SELECT trial at http://cancer.gov/select.