Genistein prevents prostate cancer metastasis in animal model

The March 15, 2008 issue of the journal Cancer Research published the finding of a team from Northwestern University in Illinois that genistein, an antioxidant compound that occurs in soybeans, almost completely prevented prostate cancer from spreading in mice in whom cancerous human tissue was implanted.

The study is the first to show that genistein can halt prostate cancer metastasis in a living organism. Raymond C. Bergan, MD of Northwestern’s Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and his colleagues implanted an aggressive human form of prostate cancer into several groups of mice and gave some of the animals an amount of genistein that elevated blood concentrations to levels comparable to those measured in humans following the consumption of soy foods. While genistein did not reduce prostate tumor size, spread of the disease to the lungs, a common site of metastasis, was reduced by 96 percent compared with animals that did not receive genistein. A repeat of the experiment elicited the same result. Continue Reading