Vitamin E
Targeting cancer stem cells
Vitamin E (d alpha tocopherol in succinate form)
is a powerful anti-cancer agent.
This study of 23 patients is the first to demonstrate that tocotrienol supplementation in combination with chemotherapy is effective in multi-resistant ovarian cancer. Many patients with advanced recurrent ovarian cancer have a short life expectancy and their condition deteriorates rapidly with a progression free survival of 2 to 4 months and a median overall survival of 5 to 7 months. In this study, the progression free survival increased to 7.8 months and a median overall survival of 12 months.
Study: VITAMIN E d-tocotrienol significantly inhibited the pancreatic tumor growth [tumor volume (50%) and weight (60%)] and metastasis in the liver and lung, CSCs spheroid formation, migration and invasion compared to control. δ-tocotrienol induced apoptosis (PARP1 cleavage and Bax expression) compared to control.
Study:
… these vitamin E forms and metabolites directly target cancer cells and cancer stem cells (CSCs) by promoting apoptosis, antiangiogenesis, and antiproliferation partially via modulating sphingolipids, epigenetic events, and other signaling pathways.
Study: VEDT [d-tocotrienol, a natural form of vitamin E] (50 μM) inhibited self-renewal (spheroid formation) of stem cells… In summary, we found that natural VEDT inhibits pancreatic cancer metastasis..
Study: …the vitamin E derivative d-TT (but not vemurafenib) specifically targets melanoma CSCs, as demonstrated by its ability to significantly impair both the formation and the growth of melanospheres…These data demonstrate that d-TT exerts its antitumor activity by targeting the CSC subpopulation of A375 melanoma cells and might represent a novel chemopreventive/therapeutic strategy against melanoma.
Page updated January 2025