A randomized controlled trial of vitamin E and selenium on rate of decline in lung function.

Background: The intake of nutrients with antioxidant properties is hypothesized to augment antioxidant defenses, decrease oxidant damage to tissues, and attenuate age-related rate of decline in lung function. The objective was to determine whether long-term intervention with selenium and/or vitamin E supplements attenuates the annual rate of decline in lung function, particularly in cigarette smokers.

Methods: The Respiratory Ancillary Study (RAS) tested the single and joint effects of selenium (200 μg/d L-selenomethionine) and vitamin E (400 IU/day all rac-α-tocopheryl acetate) in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Perivascular stem cell niche in head and neck cancer.

Cancers may contain a small sub-population of uniquely tumorigenic cells that exhibit self-renewal and multipotency, i.e. cancer stem cells (CSCs).