A new study from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) identified a potentially groundbreaking solution for treating prostate cancer.

CSHL Professor Lloyd Trotman found the pro-oxidant supplement menadione slowed prostate cancer progression in mice. The supplement is a precursor to vitamin K commonly found in leafy greens. The research suggests menadione may also be effective against myotubular myopathy, a rare condition that prevents muscle growth in infant boys.

In 2001, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) wanted to see if an antioxidant vitamin E supplement could treat or prevent prostate cancer. The NCI study was planned to run for up to 12 years but was terminated after three years when many of the men started to get the disease. Trotman saw the results and thought “if an antioxidant failed, maybe a pro-oxidant would work.”

According to CSHL, when mice with prostate cancer are given menadione, it messes with the cancer’s survival processes. Trotman and his team discovered menadione kills prostate cancer cells by depleting a lipid called PI(3)P that works like an ID tag. Without it, the cells “stop recycling incoming materials and eventually explode.”

“It’s like a transport hub, like JFK [Airport]. If everything that goes in is immediately de-identified, nobody knows where the airplanes should go next. New stuff keeps coming in, and the hub starts to swell. This ultimately leads to the cell bursting,” Trotman said.

Trotman hopes to see his research translated to pilot studies in human prostate cancer patients, adding, “Our target group would be men who get biopsies and have an early form of the disease diagnosed. We wonder if they start to take the supplement, whether we would be able to slow that disease down.”

For more information, visit www.cshl.edu.