Soy compound may halt spread of prost...(m of prostate cancer .The amount of geni...),Health

The researchers found that while genistein didnt reduce the size of tumors that developed within the prostate, it stopped lung metastasis almost completely. They repeated the experiment and found the same result.

They then examined tissue in the animals, measuring the size of tumor cells nuclei to determine if the cells had flattened out in order to spread. Within a tumor, it is hard to tell where the borders of cells stop, so one way to measure adherence is to look at the size of the nuclei in cells and see if they are wider due to cell spread, Bergan said. And that is what we found, demonstrating that the drug is having a primary effect on metastasis.

He said that the study also found that mice fed genistein expressed higher levels of genes that are involved in cancer cell migration which, Bergan says, at first might not make sense in light of the studys conclusion that genistein almost completely blocked metastasis.

What we think is happening here is that the cells we put in the mice normally like to move. When genistein restricted their ability to do so, they tried to compensate by producing more protein involved in migration. But genistein prevented those proteins from being activated, he said. This is really a lesson for researchers who depend on biomarker studies to test whether a treatment is working. They need to be aware that those biomarkers might be telling only half of the story.

Bergan cautioned that much is unknown about use of genistein in preventing cancer spread. For example, it may be that the effects of the compound in people who have eaten soy all their lives is stronger than benefit seen in patients who have only started to use genistein.

The problem we have faced is that epidemiology studies that found men who eat soy are at re
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