MINI-REVIEW Review of Selenium and Prostate Cancer Prevention

Although the incidence and mortality of prostate cancer declined from 2000 to 2008 in the United States, the prostate cancer is still the most common cancer expected to occur and the second common causes of cancer death expected in men for 2012. It is estimated to account for 29% (241,740) of all newly diagnosed cancers in men and 9% (28,170) of all male cancer deaths (Siegel et al., 2012). The most common therapies for the prostate cancer at present are the surgical treatment or radiation. But the men undergoing those treatments may suffer from some complications such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction, and it will influence the quality of life and change the satisfaction of treatment (Sanda et al., 2008; Hu et al., 2009). Because of the important features of prostate cancer: late age of onset, slow to progress, and high incidence in men, it is regarded as an ideal candidate for chemoprevention. And since the selenium was found to be preventive to some cancers, especially the potential effect to prevent prostate cancer, it has got much interest to explore the relationship between the selenium and prostate cancer. The prevention of prostate cancer will have both economic and healthy benefits since per capita medicare spending for the prostate cancer is increasing which has been more than 10,000 dollars in the Unites States (Zhang et al., 2011) and the recent data suggest that many low-risk prostate cancer were over-treated (Silberstein and Parsons, 2010). The selenium is a nonmetallic essential trace element to human health. The formulations include inorganic selenium such as selenite, selenate and organic selenium such as methylselenic acid and selenomethionine. It