Vitamin E is an essential fat-soluble vitamin that functions, at least in part, as a lipid-soluble antioxidant. Although vitamin E is a popular supplement marketed for its potential beneficial antioxidant effects for a number of chronic diseases, including various forms of cancer, a Food and Nutrition Board panel on Dietary Reference Intakes for vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and carotenoids concluded that observational epidemiologic studies provide only limited evidence for a protective association of vitamin E with lung cancer and that data from intervention trials are most suggestive for the ability of vitamin E to prevent prostate cancer; however, the panel cautioned that this information is from a single trial that must be confirmed and that the study was not designed to examine the correlation between vitamin E and prostate cancer (Institute of Medicine 2000 ). Results from preclinical studies using various experimental animals models have been inconsistent in detecting anticancer effects of vitamin E (Kimmick et al. 1997 , Prasad and Edwards-Prasad 1992 ). Vitamin E is a generic term used to describe a number of compounds that differ in chemical structure and biological activity. One interesting property that certain vitamin E compounds, namely, the tocotrienols and the vitamin E derivative, VES, possess is the ability to induce cancer cells but not normal cells to undergo apoptosis. Investigations of mechanisms of action of these compounds, to date primarily VES, are helping to increase basic knowledge about apoptotic signal transduction in cancer cells in general. It is hoped that understanding basic structure-function relationships will lead to the design of new synthetic agents with improved ability to kill cancer cells. Journal of Nutrition 2001;131:161S-163S Kimberly Kline*3, Weiping Yu and Bob G. Sanders * Division of Nutrition and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 3To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: k.kline@mail.utexas.edu. J Exp Thera & Oncol, 3/03 Abstract #C164 Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Res, 2003 Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.