Selenium, a trace element in the human organism, might play a surprisingly powerful role in protecting us from disease — especially when it comes to colorectal cancer.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffer from selenium deficiency, often without knowing it. Previous studies have linked low selenium levels to a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer. However, cancer cells seem to accumulate selenium to help themselves survive, using it to avoid a specific form of cell death known as ferroptosis. In other words, selenium may both help prevent cancer and, paradoxically, help tumors thrive once they form.
Stefanie Brezina and Andrea Gsur, together with colleagues from the Charité in Berlin took a closer look at this paradox by conducting a plasma profiling using samples of the Colorectal Cancer Study of Austria (CORSA). 111 colorectal cancer samples, 255 adenoma samples and 153 population-based colonoscopy negative controls have been used to measure four markers of selenium status, including total selenium levels, two specific selenium-related proteins (GPx3 and SELENOP), and antibodies against SELENOP.
While total selenium and GPx3 levels didn’t differ much between clinical outcome groups, SELENOP levels were significantly lower in patients with colorectal cancer. Moreover, over 5% of cancer patients had autoantibodies against SELENOP, compared to less than 1% of controls.
But most importantly, higher SELENOP levels at diagnosis were linked to better long-term survival, even after adjusting for other health factors. In fact, adding selenium biomarkers, especially SELENOP to standard clinical models significantly improved predictions of patient outcomes. As SELENOP levels depend on dietary selenium intake, deficiencies can potentially be corrected, raising the possibility that personalized nutrition or supplements could one day improve cancer survival rates.
Furthermore, data-driven clustering analysis identified three distinct clusters based on Se markers, one of which displayed a remarkably increased risk for mortality. This highlights how selenium profiling could become a valuable tool for tailoring treatment and follow-up care. As research continues, selenium may prove to be not just a passive nutrient but an active ally in the fight against cancer.
Publication:
Colorectal cancer mortality is associated with low selenoprotein P status at diagnosis
Redox Biol. 2025 May 24:84:103701. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2025.103701.
About Stefanie Brezina
Stefanie Brezina studied Biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna, where she developed a strong interest in molecular biology and biomedical research. She completed her PhD in 2018 in the research group of Andrea Gsur at the Center for Cancer Research (Medical University of Vienna), conducting a large-scale metabolomics study aimed at identifying biomarkers along the continuum of colorectal cancer development. During her doctoral training, she spent several months at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, where she gained valuable international research experience and deepened her expertise in cancer epidemiology. Currently, she continues her work as a Postdoctoral Researcher in Andrea Gsur’s group, focusing on molecular epidemiology and applying omics-based approaches to discover novel biomarkers for colorectal cancer.