Prostate cancer is often a silent threat. Most men can be treated successfully, but some tumors grow resistant to every available therapy and become dangerously aggressive. Now, researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have uncovered a finding that may shift the future of treatment.
A team led by CSHL Professor Lloyd Trotman has discovered that the pro-oxidant supplement menadione can slow prostate cancer progression in mice. Menadione is a precursor to vitamin K and is naturally found in leafy green foods. This research builds on questions raised more than 20 years ago.
In 2001, the National Cancer Institute launched the SELECT trial to test whether the antioxidant vitamin E could reduce prostate cancer risk. About 35,000 men participated, and the study was expected to last up to 12 years. But after only three years, researchers halted supplement use. Vitamin E had not prevented prostate cancer. Instead, more men taking the supplement developed the disease.
This outcome led Trotman to ask a different question: If an antioxidant failed, could a pro-oxidant succeed? His new study in mice suggests the answer may be yes.
How Menadione Disrupts Cancer Cells
Menadione appears to interfere with cancer cell survival. Trotman’s team found that the supplement destroys prostate cancer cells by reducing a lipid called PI(3)P. This lipid acts like an identification tag that helps cells sort and recycle incoming materials. Without PI(3)P, cancer cells quickly lose control of their internal transport system.
Trotman explains the process with an airport analogy:
“It’s like a transport hub, like JFK. If everything that comes in is immediately de-identified, no one knows where anything should go. New materials keep arriving, the hub swells, and eventually it bursts.”
In mice, this breakdown causes prostate cancer growth to slow dramatically. Trotman hopes this early success will support pilot trials in human patients.
“Our target group would be men who receive biopsies and are diagnosed with early-stage disease. We want to know whether taking the supplement might slow the cancer’s development.”
Potential Beyond Prostate Cancer
The researchers also uncovered surprising evidence that menadione may help treat myotubular myopathy, a rare genetic disorder that prevents muscle growth in infant boys. Most affected children do not survive past early childhood. In mice, reducing PI(3)P with menadione doubled their lifespan.
If these findings translate to humans, menadione could offer men with prostate cancer more time and better quality of life. It could also provide hope for families affected by an incurable childhood disease.
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