Possible Interaction: Vitamin E and Lycopene

“ Lycopene , as an effective antioxidant, combined with vitamin E seemed to be additive against oxidative stress.”

“In contrast, combined treatment with lycopene and vitamin E , at 5 mg/kg BW each, suppressed orthotopic growth of PC-346C prostate tumors by 73% at d 42 (P < 0.05) and increased median survival time by 40% from 47 to 66 d (P = 0.02).”

“Our data provide evidence that lycopene combined with vitamin E may inhibit the growth of prostate cancer and that PSA can serve as a biomarker of tumor response for this treatment regimen.”

“Serum concentration of lycopene was negatively associated with total WOMAC score (r = -0.360, p-value = 0.040) and physical function subscale (r = -0.350, p-value = 0.046) Conclusion: Serum concentrations of α-tocopherol and lycopene were significantly lower in patients with KOA than in healthy controls.”

“Other compounds in tomato ketchup such as α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid appeared to strengthen the anti-inflammatory effect of lycopene.”

“Moreover, the effect of lycopene on this process increased in the presence of ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol.”

“ Lycopene and beta-carotene did not protect … but in the presence of vitamin E , their stability in culture was improved and the rise in MMP-1 mRNA expression was suppressed, suggesting a … protection of the carotenoids against formation of oxidative derivatives that can influence the cellular and molecular responses.”

“The presence of vitamin E in the formulation further increased the stability and cellular uptake of lycopene.”

“Retinol concentrations were similar for both sexes, whereas alpha-tocopherol concentration was significantly (P < 0.0001) lower and the carotenoid levels (beta-carotene and lycopene ) significantly higher (P < 0.0001) in women.”

“A combination of lycopene (5 micromol/liter) with vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) in the concentration range of 1-10 micromol/liter resulted in an inhibition of copper ion-induced LDL oxidation that was significantly greater than the expected additive individual inhibitions.”

“The synergistic antioxidative effect of lycopene with vitamin E was not shared by gamma-to-cotrienol.”

“We conclude that lycopene acts synergistically, as an effective antioxidant against LDL oxidation, with several natural antioxidants such as vitamin E , the flavonoid glabridin, the phenolics rosmarinic acid and carnosic acid, and garlic.”

“However, the simultaneous addition of lycopene together with alpha-tocopherol , at physiological concentrations (less than 1 microM and 50 microM, respectively), resulted in a strong inhibitory effect of prostate carcinoma cell proliferation, which reached values close to 90 %.”

“The effect of lycopene with alpha-tocopherol was synergistic and was not shared by beta-tocopherol, ascorbic acid and probucol.”

“However, acyl-PAF biosynthesis, which also occurs through the PAF-dependent transacetylase (TA), was significantly increased by lycopene only when it was in association with alpha-tocopherol or with the minor compounds present in the whole lipophilic tomato extract.”

“These findings suggest that alpha-tocopherol or lipophilic compounds present in tomato juice potentiate the effects of lycopene on the modulation of PAF and acyl-PAF biosynthesis in ECs during oxidative stress.”