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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Unconventional therapy for prostate cancer: good, bad or questionable?

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 3, pages 845–858 (2003)Cite this article

Key Points

  • The protracted natural history and lack of curative therapy for advanced prostate cancer makes complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) attractive to patients.

  • CAM is as widely practiced as traditional medicine.

  • Antioxidant and hormonal influences of dietary and alternative therapies hold promise for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer.

  • The lack of quality control of CAMs that are offered as dietary supplements makes them susceptible to adulteration.

  • New models for how to incorporate studies of CAM into chemoprevention and therapeutic trials are badly needed.

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) encompasses a wide range of interventions that are often used for the prevention and treatment of malignant disease. As prostate cancer is characterized by strong dietary influences, a long disease latency period and limited treatment strategies for advanced disease, many patients turn to CAM with the belief that they represent a viable therapeutic option that is free of adverse side effects. Although the efficacy of many CAM therapies seems compelling, definitive studies are underway and the potentially harmful effects of these 'natural' interventions need to be recognized.

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Figure 1: Prostate carcinogenesis and potential intervention points for nutrient and botanical agents.
Figure 2: Antioxidant effect of carotenoids: scavenging of reactive oxygen species and prevention of cellular damage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate (CaPURE) for support. Peter Nelson is supported by a Scholar Award from the Damon Runyan Cancer Research Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Divisions of Human Biology and Clinical Research, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, 1100 Fairview Avenue, Seattle, 98105, Washington, USA

    Peter S. Nelson

  2. Department of Medicine, University of Washington and VA Puget Sound HCS, 1660 South Columbian Way, Seattle, 98108, Washington, USA

    Bruce Montgomery

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  1. Peter S. Nelson
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  2. Bruce Montgomery
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Correspondence to Peter S. Nelson.

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Glossary

TOCOPHEROLS AND TOCOTRIENOLS

Tocopherols are substituted benzopyranols (methyl tocols) that occur in vegetable oils. Different forms (α, β, γ and δ) are recognized according to the number or position of methyl groups on the aromatic ring. α-tocopherol is an important natural antioxidant. Tocotrienols have similar ring structures as tocopherols, but have three double bonds in the aliphatic chain.

POLYPHENOLS

Chemicals that contain more than one aromatic phenol ring.

PHYTO-OESTROGENS

Chemicals that are derived from plant sources which have oestrogen-like effects on animal tissues or cell lines.

METALLOPROTEINASES

Proteolytic enzymes that break down the extracellular matrix.

TRAMP MICE

(Transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate). A transgenic mouse strain in which the oncogenic SV40 T antigen is expressed in prostate tissue. Animals spontaneously develop preneoplastic lesions and malignancy of the prostate and the model has been used to study methods to prevent and treat prostate cancer in vivo.

PSA

(Prostate-specific antigen). A member of the kallikrein family that is made by normal and malignant prostate tissues and that can be secreted into the blood. Detection of PSA from blood tests is one way of detecting and following prostate cancer.

EICOSANOIDS

A class of hormone-like substances that are formed in the body from long-chain essential fatty acids.

SCID MICE

Mice that are homozygous for the SCID mutation have compromised B- and T-cell immunity. This lack of immunity means that they can support human tumour xenografts for preclinical studies.

CAROTENOIDS

Any group of pigments, yellow to deep red in colour, chemically consisting of polyisoprene hydrocarbons. Carotenoids are synthesized by higher plants and concentrate in animal fat when eaten.

REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES

The chemical reactions and physical changes involving molecular oxygen (O2), or any of the reactive oxygen species such as superoxide anions (O2−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and hydroxyl radicals (–OH).

OLEORESIN

A mixture of oil and resin that occurs naturally in certain plant tissues, and that can be extracted.

SAW-PALMETTO

A small berry-shaped fruit that grows on the Saw palmetto palm tree (known as sabal in Europe). Saw palmetto grows naturally in the southeast United States (for example, in Georgia, Mississippi and Florida) and has been used for thousands of years by the Native Americans to treat urinary problems.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

A method that is used to separate molecules through the use of high-pressure application of complex solutions to matrices that preferentially bind or exclude species depending on the matrix and the compound of interest.

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Nelson, P., Montgomery, B. Unconventional therapy for prostate cancer: good, bad or questionable?. Nat Rev Cancer 3, 845–858 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1210

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