Study links Tocotrienols to inhibition of cancer cell proliferation

14/03/06 According to researchers in Japan, “Tocotrienols, vitamin E compounds that have an unsaturated side chain with three double bonds, selectively inhibited the activity of mammalian DNA polymerase lambda (pol lambda) in vitro. Polymerases are involved in cellular DNA synthesis during cell replication.”

The researchers also showed that tocotrienols inhibited the proliferation of and formation of tubes by bovine aortic endothelial cells, with delta-tocotrienol having the greatest effect. “The isomer’s structure might be an important factor in the inhibition of pol lambda,” suggested Y. Mizushina and colleagues at the Kobe Gakuin University.

The study published in the recent issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication, 2006 (339), 949-955 suggests that tocotrienols may act as potent anti-cancer agents by inhibiting pol lambda and angiogenesis.

What is interesting is that the regular tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma and delta-tocopherol) do not influence the activities of mammalian polymerase and angiogenesis at all, suggesting that the three double bonds in the unsaturated side chain of tocotrienols play an important factor in the inhibition of polymerase lambda.

The fact that tocotrienols, which are a natural form of vitamin E in plants, are inhibitor or a polymerase species, pol lambda, is of great interest in the science of how natural compounds inhibit cancer cells. It is therefore possible that the greater anti-angiogenic effect of tocotrienols may be due, in part, to the highly effective inhibition of polymerase lambda.

“Since angiogenesis is essential for tumour growth, its strong inhibition by tocotrienols but not tocopherols, could very well provide us with a safe dietary means to prevent a cancer from becoming metastatic,” says WH Leong, Vice President for Carotech Inc, the largest producer of Tocomin® full spectrum palm tocotrienol complex in the world.

Carotech Inc, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Carotech Bhd, Malaysia. Carotech, a public listed company in Malaysia (Malaysian Securities Exchange Board under the high-technology / high growth, MESDAQ Board), is the largest producer of tocotrienol in the world via its patented technology. Carotech Bhd is a subsidiary of Hovid Bhd., one of the largest GMP-certified pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia.

www.carotech.net