In a groundbreaking laboratory study, a research team at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has found that a non-toxic oral agent that is also consumed as an over-the-counter dietary supplement in Europe and Asia for improving liver health, is highly effective in both preventing and treating prostate cancer. Additionally the agent was able to halt the metastatic spread of the disease.
“We found that 4-methylumbelliferone (4-MU) was able to block a key signaling pathway that triggers the development, growth and metastasis of prostate cancer,” said the study’s principal investigator Vinata B. Lokeshwar, Ph.D., professor of urology and director of the pilot and translational studies component of the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute. “The results were simply amazing.”