Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, 8000 York Rd., Towson, MD 21252, USA.
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Dec 21;23(1):5. doi: 10.3390/ijms23010005.
Selenium is a fascinating element that has a long history, most of which documents it as a deleterious element to health. In more recent years, selenium has been found to be an essential element in the diet of humans, all other mammals, and many other life forms. It has many health benefits that include, for example, roles in preventing heart disease and certain forms of cancer, slowing AIDS progression in HIV patients, supporting male reproduction, inhibiting viral expression, and boosting the immune system, and it also plays essential roles in mammalian development. Elucidating the molecular biology of selenium over the past 40 years generated an entirely new field of science which encompassed the many novel features of selenium. These features were (1) how this element makes its way into protein as the 21st amino acid in the genetic code, selenocysteine (Sec); (2) the vast amount of machinery dedicated to synthesizing Sec uniquely on its tRNA; (3) the incorporation of Sec into protein; and (4) the roles of the resulting Sec-containing proteins (selenoproteins) in health and development. One of the research areas receiving the most attention regarding selenium in health has been its role in cancer prevention, but further research has also exposed the role of this element as a facilitator of various maladies, including cancer.
硒是一种引人入胜的元素，它的历史悠久，其中大部分文献将其描述为对健康有害的元素。近年来，人们发现硒是人类、所有其他哺乳动物和许多其他生命形式饮食中必不可少的元素。它有许多健康益处，例如在预防心脏病和某些癌症、减缓 HIV 患者艾滋病的进展、支持男性生殖、抑制病毒表达和增强免疫系统方面发挥作用，它在哺乳动物发育中也起着至关重要的作用。在过去的 40 年中，阐明硒的分子生物学产生了一个全新的科学领域，其中包含了硒的许多新特征。这些特征包括：（1）该元素如何作为遗传密码中第 21 种氨基酸进入蛋白质，即硒代半胱氨酸（Sec）；（2）专门用于在其 tRNA 上合成 Sec 的大量机器；（3）Sec 掺入蛋白质；以及（4）由此产生的含有 Sec 的蛋白质（硒蛋白）在健康和发育中的作用。在与健康相关的硒研究领域中，受到最多关注的一个领域是它在预防癌症方面的作用，但进一步的研究也揭示了这种元素作为各种疾病（包括癌症）的促进剂的作用。
