The March 15 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American
Association for Cancer Research, describes how a compound found in
soybeans almost completely prevented the spread of human prostate
cancer in mice. This information was circulated by the organization
above in a press release this morning.

Researchers say that the amount of the chemical, an antioxidant known
as genistein, used in the experiments was no higher than what a human
would eat in a soybean-rich diet. Scientists from Northwestern
University found that genistein decreased metastasis of prostate
cancer to the lungs by 96 percent compared with mice that did not eat
the compound in their daily diet - making the study the first to
demonstrate genistein can stop prostate cancer metastasis in a living
organism.

"Diet can affect cancer and it doesn't do it by magic," the main
author of this report, Dr. Bergan, said. "Certain chemicals have
beneficial effects and now we have all the preclinical studies we need
to suggest genistein might be a very promising chemopreventive drug."

In this study, investigators fed genistein to several groups of mice
before implanting them with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. The
amount of genistein in the blood of the animals was comparable to
human blood concentrations after consumption of soy foods, Bergan
said. The researchers found that while genistein didn't 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.

"What we found demonstrated that the compound is having a primary
effect on metastasis," said the authors.

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 reduced risk of prostate cancer death are all
associative. They don't prove anything," he said. "The only way we
will find out how promising genistein is will be from conducting
clinical trials."

Obviously, that's the next step in this exciting new area of research.

Dave

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