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Review
. 2021 May 13;13(5):1649.
doi: 10.3390/nu13051649.

Selenium as a Bioactive Micronutrient in the Human Diet and Its Cancer Chemopreventive Activity

Dominika Radomska  1 , Robert Czarnomysy  1 , Dominik Radomski  1 , Anna Bielawska  2 , Krzysztof Bielawski  1
Affiliations
Review

Selenium as a Bioactive Micronutrient in the Human Diet and Its Cancer Chemopreventive Activity

Dominika Radomska et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

This review answers the question of why selenium is such an important trace element in the human diet. Daily dietary intake of selenium and its content in various food products is discussed in this paper, as well as the effects of its deficiency and excess in the body. Moreover, the biological activity of selenium, which it performs mainly through selenoproteins, is discussed. These specific proteins are responsible for thyroid hormone management, fertility, the aging process, and immunity, but their key role is to maintain a redox balance in cells. Furthermore, taking into account world news and the current SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic, the impact of selenium on the course of COVID-19 is also discussed. Another worldwide problem is the number of new cancer cases and cancer-related mortality. Thus, the last part of the article discusses the impact of selenium on cancer risk based on clinical trials (including NPC and SELECT), systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. Additionally, this review discusses the possible mechanisms of selenium action that prevent cancer development.

Keywords: COVID-19; bioactive nutrients; cancer; cancer chemoprevention; essential nutrients; micronutrients; molecular mechanisms; nutrient sources; prevention; selenium.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The range of normal (optimal) plasma selenium levels. Values above and below this range indicate selenium toxicity or deficiency, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Selenoprotein families and their localization in the human body [2,82,85,86]. ER—endoplasmic reticulum, CNS—central nervous system.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Selenoproteins of the glutathione peroxidases (GPx) family and their functions [85,87,88,89].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Selenoproteins of the thioredoxin reductases (TrxR) family and their functions [102,103,104,105].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Selenoproteins of the iodothyronine deiodinases (DIO) family and their functions [114,115,117,118,119].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Other selenoproteins and their functions [8,55,82,86,128,129,130,131,132,133].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Possible mechanisms of cancer chemoprevention by selenium.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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