title: Dietary supplemented 2-mercaptoethanol prevents spontaneous and delays virally-induced murine mammary tumorigenesis.
abstract: There seems to be little doubt that organosulfur compounds have enormous benefits for biological processes, especially those of diseases like cancer. The preliminary results herein define a cancer model in which benefits/mechanisms of multitudes of xenobiotic and nature's organosulfurs could easily be compared. Mice from three strains with a high incidence for naturally occurring tumors were treated daily with 2-mercaptoethanol (2-Me) starting at weaning. The 100% tumor incidence of undefined etiology in untreated BXSB-Yaa (+) males was completely prevented by 2-Me. In contrast, 2-Me treatment of female and male C3H.OL and C3H.OH congenic strains, did not change the 100% tumor incidence due to milk-borne retrovirus, MMTV(S), but did: (1) delay the appearance of tumors by 42%; (2) increase longevity 56%; and (3) increase longevity, post-tumor detection, 95%. The addition of these results to the increasingly impressive anti-cancer benefits of simple xenobiotic organosulfurs raise the question: Can they be adapted for use as a preventive modality for human cancer?
authors.affiliation: University of Minnesota; Minneapolis, MN, USA. mbclicker@msn.com
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Click
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008325:Mammary Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology; D008324:Mammary Tumor Virus, Mouse; D008623:Mercaptoethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000150:complications*
chemical_list: D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D008623:Mercaptoethanol
keywords: 2-mercaptoethanol; MMTV; cancer prophylaxis; dietary; experimental; garlic; murine mammary tumors; organosulfurs; retrovirus