Mouse Studies Add To Evidence That DHEA Has Little Health Benefit
http://ipn.intelihealth.com/ipn/ihtIPN?c=236195
WESTPORT, Aug 10, 1999 (Reuters Health) - Mice that received lifelong
treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) sulfate showed no apparent
health benefits from the steroid, which has been proposed to boost
immune function in humans and delay the onset of illness in late life.
"We did not find any positive results at all," Dr. Richard A Miller told
Reuters Health.
Dr. Miller and his colleague Dr. Clarence Chrisp, both at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, allocated 120 mice (60 males and 60 females)
to two treatment groups. Mice in the first group received 100 mcg/mL
oral DHEA sulfate in their drinking water from weaning until death. Mice
in the second group served as controls, according to a report published
in the August issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Mice in the two groups had similar lifespans, similar immune function in
middle age and similar rates of lethal illness. The only exceptions were
for mouse urinary syndrome in males and mammary adenocarcinoma in
females, both of which occurred significantly more often in DHEA-treated
mice than in controls.
The latter result is consistent with data from human studies, the
investigators note, which have shown that DHEA has "...undesirable
androgenic effects in women."
The findings "...are an exact opposite..." to those reported for a
previous study conducted using the same methods, Dr. Miller said in an
interview. "Even though we followed the same procedures as those other
laboratories," he explained, "...they got very dramatic findings." Dr.
Miller could not explain the discrepancy, but does not believe the study
deserves replication.
The implications of the results for humans are "difficult to
extrapolate," he commented. "In this case it's even more difficult than
usual because rodents are known to metabolize DHEA differently from
humans." However, data accumulating from other studies indicate that
DHEA is not likely to be of any clinical value in humans, either, he
said.
"There's enough human data now to understand that [DHEA] doesn't seem to
have much of an effect," Dr. Miller concluded.
J Am Geriatr Soc 1999;47:960-966.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited.
©1996-1998 Inteli-Health, Inc.
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Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada
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