Dietary supplemented 2-mercaptoethanol prevents spontaneous and delays virally-induced murine mammary tumorigenesis

Alteration of radiation-sensitive processes associated with cancer and longevity by dietary 2-mercaptoethanol

“…The 43% incidence of mammary tumors found herein was higher than 0% in 44 animals not irradiated - 22 treated with 2-ME ( P = 0.0096) and 22 not treated ( P = 0.0096) - and the 0% in the 50 treated with 2-ME ( P = 0.0012). This lifetime curtailment adds another 2-ME anticancer benefit to those previously described for other strains: (a) lower incidence of Dunn tumors in CBA/Ca, [23] (b) delay of liver carcinomas associated with aging in CBA/Ca and BC3F1 [22,23] and mammary tumors induced by exogenous milk-bourne virus in C3H/He, [24] and (c) complete prevention of the 100% spontaneously occurring, age associated, tumors in BXSB- Yaa +. [24] It should be noted that in the two models in which complete prevention of cancer was achieved, the latency was extremely long - median time from radiation until death due to cancer was 620 days, a time that is essentially identical to the median age of 650 days at which death occurred due to spontaneously arising tumors in untreated BXSB- Yaa +.…”

“…This lifetime curtailment adds another 2-ME anticancer benefit to those previously described for other strains: (a) lower incidence of Dunn tumors in CBA/Ca, [23] (b) delay of liver carcinomas associated with aging in CBA/Ca and BC3F1 [22,23] and mammary tumors induced by exogenous milk-bourne virus in C3H/He, [24] and (c) complete prevention of the 100% spontaneously occurring, age associated, tumors in BXSB- Yaa +. [24] It should be noted that in the two models in which complete prevention of cancer was achieved, the latency was extremely long - median time from radiation until death due to cancer was 620 days, a time that is essentially identical to the median age of 650 days at which death occurred due to spontaneously arising tumors in untreated BXSB- Yaa +. [24] Complete prevention verses delaying/slowing progression raises an interesting question: Is the variability in incidence found for different organosulfurs associated with (a) their structure, (b) the length of the latency period, (c) treatment duration/dose, and/or (d) different etiologic agents?…”

“…Supplementation was well-tolerated as it did not significantly alter the consumption of food or water and did not result in altered weight loss/gain compared with age-matched controls - these data are not included since they are similar to those reported previously for many other strains. [22-24] Average daily consumption of 2-ME fluctuated over a lifetime from 70-80 ugm/gm body wt. Survival and visual monitoring for palpable tumors (<1 mm 3 ) and other cancers were done biweekly.…”

“…The first results [19-21] demonstrated that 2-ME could reverse the age-associated decline in immune responsiveness by either a single or limited (<5) injections of 2-ME or by culturing the cells in the presence of 2-ME. Later, others found that when fed daily as a dietary supplement, spontaneous arising cancers were either delayed [22-24] or completely prevented. [24] A composite of these findings raise the question: What, if any, alteration of radiation-induced tumorigenesis would 2-ME impart that may, or may not, be superior to that of other sulfur antioxidants?…”

“…Later, others found that when fed daily as a dietary supplement, spontaneous arising cancers were either delayed [22-24] or completely prevented. [24] A composite of these findings raise the question: What, if any, alteration of radiation-induced tumorigenesis would 2-ME impart that may, or may not, be superior to that of other sulfur antioxidants? With limited numbers of animals, the results herein indicate that mammary tumorigenesis induced by sublethal, total body radiation was completely prevented over an entire lifetime by 2-ME.…”