Scientist in the Spotlight:
Emmanuel Akporiaye, Ph.D.

If recent, well-controlled studies prove true, high doses of vitamin E do not help reduce cancer risk. But in the lab, an odd thing happens when you change vitamin E slightly, observed cancer immunologist Emmanuel Akporiaye. The Professor and Laboratory Chief at Providence Cancer Center in Oregon, Emmanuel Akporiaye has long focused on the anti-cancer effects of a derivative of vitamin E. Now, with support from AICR, Dr. Akporiaye’s latest research is yielding intriguing insights into how this vitamin E-derivative sparks the immune system and may someday improve breast cancer treatment.

Q: You’re researching a derivative (modification) of vitamin E: in general, how does it affect cancer development?

A: Unlike vitamin E, this analog, called alpha-TEA for short (unrelated to the tea you drink) really has pro-apoptotic effects and can kill cancer cells. In addition, when cancer cells are killed they release components that can activate the immune system so it’s really a two for one: α-TEA kills the cancer cells directly and activates the immune system, which then kills cancer cells.

Q: What made you interested in vitamin E derivatives and cancer?

A: Most of my work has been in cancer vaccines as well as the tumor microenvironment, trying to understand what the tumor is doing that allows it to escape the immune system and grow.

We now know that in immunotherapy – a technique that boosts the immune system – one approach does not work. I was looking for a drug derived from a natural substance to combine with a form of immunotherapy. At that time, I was at the University of Arizona and there was a group working with another derivative of vitamin E. I decided to combine it with a vaccine and it improved its effectiveness.

"Most of my work has been...trying to understand what the tumor is doing that allows it to escape the immune system and grow."

Q: What’s next in your research?

A: The next step is to combine this approach with other immunological approaches and see what happens. If all the animal studies work well, we hope to conduct safety and toxicity studies in breast cancer patients in 1-2 years. Eventually, we want to use this approach to prevent cancer and treat undetectable cancer.

Q: How do you respond to the recent studies showing high doses of vitamin E are not effective in lowering cancer risk?

A: This is not vitamin E: α-TEA is derived from vitamin E, it has properties that vitamin E doesn’t have. α-TEA does kill cancer cells while vitamin E doesn’t.

Q: Now you are working in Australia on a Fulbright Senior Scholarship. What made you want to conduct your research there for six months?

A: The colleague I am working with here is one of the premier experts on the cell biology of vitamin E derivatives. I’m an immunologist so we wanted to combine our expertise.

Q: You were brought up in Nigeria, what brought you to America?

A: I got my bachelors in Nigeria, but in order to get advance training I wanted to go to the States. I went on to get my Ph.D. and then went to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and that’s where I was introduced to the field of tumor biology.

Did You Know?

Eat Healthy: Live Longer

Those who eat the healthiest have up to a 25% reduced risk of death over ten years of follow up, according to a new study that followed about 350,000 people.

Science Roundup

Craving Foods to Feel Full

Fries v Veggies Vote, veggies win Why do we eat what we eat? It is commonly assumed that we crave and choose foods based on taste. Yet a recent study suggests that the driving force behind our food choice is not taste, but our desire to feel full. Published in Obesity, the study may help us understand why people crave high-calorie foods, thereby increasing the risk of obesity and cancer.

In the study, 28 college students viewed pictures of 17 commonly consumed foods that were presented in equal calorie-sized portions. Participants were asked two questions: which foods they would like to eat for lunch and which they would find most filling. Surprisingly. food selection was based on which foods they expected to be most filling, not by how much they liked the food. The study also found that participants selected larger portions of the high calorie foods – such as chocolate and fries – because they imagined they would need more to fill them up at lunch, compared to lower-calorie foods – such as bananas.

People use their experience to recall how full a particular food made them feel, says Jeffrey Brunstrom, PhD, a psychologist from Bristol University and lead author of the study. “Much of this learning may take place in childhood, around the time that food preferences develop.” Dr. Brunstrom is now following up on this study by researching how expected fullness plays a role in children’s’ snack food choices.

Black Raspberries to Prevent Skin Cancer

Too much sun? In the future, sun lovers who want to guard again skin cancer could rub on a black raspberry lotion to help the skin cells repair possible sun damage, suggests an animal study published this month in Cancer Prevention Research. Black raspberries are a potent source of anthocyanins, a group of phytochemicals shown to have anticancer effects in numerous laboratory studies.

In this study, researchers exposed a group of mice to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays and then immediately applied a black raspberry gel – a raspberry extract mixed with jelly. This was repeated three times a week. After 25 weeks, the mice treated with the black raspberries showed significantly fewer and smaller tumors than the comparison group. The authors tested several possible ways that black raspberries could induce skin cells to repair UVB damage, such as altering the immune cells.

This may lead to more effective skin cancer prevention strategies someday. But for now, research shows that simply eating plenty of fruit may reduce the risk of several cancers.

Breast Cancer and the Metabolic Syndrome

Taking Blood Pressure Women with high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and other components of the metabolic syndrome may be at higher risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, according to a study published last month in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Affecting an estimated 47 million Americans, the metabolic syndrome consists of a cluster of symptoms, including abdominal obesity, high blood glucose levels, and abnormal lipid levels. It is also linked with poor diet and lack of physical activity, factors associated with increased cancer risk.

In the study, researchers analyzed measurements taken from almost 5,000 postmenopausal women who did not have diabetes. Over an 8-year period, 165 of the women were diagnosed with breast cancer. There was no link between those who had metabolic syndrome at the start of the study and breast cancer risk. However, women who had the metabolic syndrome three to five years prior to breast cancer diagnosis had nearly double the risk. Due to the relative small number of breast cancer cases, this study should be interpreted with caution, the authors concluded; larger studies with repeated measurements are needed.