Molecular Biology of Selenium Section, Mouse Cancer Genetics Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA.
Trends Biochem Sci. 2014 Mar;39(3):112-20. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2013.12.007. Epub 2014 Jan 28.
The many biological and biomedical effects of selenium are relatively unknown outside the selenium field. This fascinating element, initially described as a toxin, was subsequently shown to be essential for health and development. By the mid-1990s selenium emerged as one of the most promising cancer chemopreventive agents, but subsequent human clinical trials yielded contradictory results. However, basic research on selenium continued to move at a rapid pace, elucidating its many roles in health, development, and in cancer prevention and promotion. Dietary selenium acts principally through selenoproteins, most of which are oxidoreductases involved in diverse cellular functions.
硒的许多生物学和生物医学效应在硒领域之外相对未知。这种迷人的元素最初被描述为一种毒素，随后被证明对健康和发育至关重要。到 20 世纪 90 年代中期，硒成为最有前途的癌症化学预防剂之一，但随后的人体临床试验得出了相互矛盾的结果。然而，硒的基础研究继续快速发展，阐明了它在健康、发育以及癌症预防和促进方面的许多作用。膳食硒主要通过硒蛋白发挥作用，其中大多数是参与多种细胞功能的氧化还原酶。
