Soy compounds may battle cancer.

USDA-ARS scientists and researchers from the Tulane Center for Bioenvironmental Research have identified a group of compounds from soy they believe inhibit the growth of breast and ovarian cancers. The findings could eventually lead to a value-added product that could be incorporated into soy products, generating additional markets for soy.

The ARS is seeking a cooperative research partner to further develop this technology for commercial use. Health-related toxicity testing is required. These compounds may have potential therapeutic value in preventing or treating hormone-influenced human diseases, such as certain cancers: breast, prostate and ovarian carcinoma. The compounds could potentially be used by the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries as a therapeutic agent, a nutraceutical product, an additive, soy protein or soy nut, for example.

Unique soy compounds could be important components in alternative treatments, or may be used in conjunction with traditional medicines. These compounds may also represent an important component of soy's dietary benefits. In addition, identifying novel compounds with anti-estrogenic activity may be an important discovery for developing new anti-estrogenic therapy treatments for hormone-based cancers, like breast and ovarian cancers. Hormone-based cancers rely on increased estrogen levels to grow.

Meanwhile, in March 2008, researchers from Northwestern University reported that a compound found in soybeans almost completely prevented the spread of human prostate cancer in mice. In a study published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research, scientists said that the amount of the chemical, the antioxidant genistein, used in the experiments was no greater than what a human would eat in a soybean-rich diet.

The investigators found that genistein decreased metastasis of prostate cancer to the lungs by 96%, compared with mice that did not consume the compound. "These results give us hope that genistein might show some effect in preventing the spread of prostate cancer in patients," says the study's senior investigator, Raymond C. Bergan, MD, director of experimental therapeutics for the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. While genistein didn't reduce the size of tumors that developed within the prostate, it stopped lung metastasis almost completely.

Further information. Thomas E. Cleveland, USDA-ARS Southern Regional Research Center Food and Feed Safety Research, Room 2135-S, 1100 Robert E. Lee Blvd., Building 001, New Orleans, LA 70124; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: mailto:[e-mail].