Vitamin E extract can play a key role in the treatment of cancerous tumors, Scottish scientists believe.

Scientists from Glasgow and Strathclyde University who studied tocotrienol - an extract of vitamin E, which has an anti-cancer effect, could not deliver the substance to the tumor by intravenous administration without side effects on healthy tissues. As a result of long experiments, the researchers developed the form of tocotrienol, which, with intravenous administration, can be selectively delivered to a tumor. For this purpose, specialists used transferrin, a plasma protein that functions as a transport for iron ions in the body, receptors to which are found in large numbers in many types of cancer tumors.

Treatment with such a form of tocotrienol leads to a decrease in the tumor within one day and its almost complete disappearance after 10 days of treatment - the maximum duration of treatment allowed for the experiment.

Despite the fact that the tumors again increased after the end of treatment, the rate of their growth was significantly lower than when testing other forms of the agent. Researchers believe that there are opportunities for further improving the therapeutic effect of the developed drug through the use of higher doses and a prolonged course of treatment.

This drug looked extremely promising in laboratory tests for skin cancer. At the moment, scientists are exploring other dosage forms that could give similar or better results.

Medicinform. Net.

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