Title: Chemopreventive activity of vitamin E in breast cancer: a focus on γ- and δ-tocopherol.

Authors: Smolarek, Amanda K; Suh, Nanjoo

Published In Nutrients, (2011 11)

Abstract: Vitamin E consists of eight different variants: α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocopherols (saturated phytyl tail) and α-, β-, γ-, and δ-tocotrienols (unsaturated phytyl tail). Cancer prevention studies with vitamin E have primarily utilized the variant α-tocopherol. To no avail, a majority of these studies focused on variant α-tocopherol with inconsistent results. However, γ-tocopherol, and more recently δ-tocopherol, have shown greater ability to reduce inflammation, cell proliferation, and tumor burden. Recent results have shown that γ-enriched mixed tocopherols inhibit the development of mammary hyperplasia and tumorigenesis in animal models. In this review, we discuss the possible differences between the variant forms, molecular targets, and cancer-preventive effects of tocopherols. We recommend that a γ-enriched mixture, γ- and δ-tocopherol, but not α-tocopherol, are promising agents for breast cancer prevention and warrant further investigation.

PubMed ID: 22254089

MeSH Terms: Apoptosis/drug effects; Breast Neoplasms/metabolism*; Cell Proliferation/drug effects; Cyclooxygenase 2/metabolism; Female; Humans; NF-E2-Related Factor 2/metabolism; PPAR gamma/metabolism; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/metabolism; Receptors, Estrogen/metabolism; Tocopherols/pharmacology*; Vitamin E/pharmacology; alpha-Tocopherol/pharmacology; gamma-Tocopherol/pharmacology*