Selenium: Chemical biology, toxicology and radioprotection

Selenium, a micronutrient and an active constituent of important redox enzymes like glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), has been investigated extensively by researchers all over the world for the last four to five decades. Both inorganic and organic selenium compounds are being evaluated as probable drugs or adjuvants for many viral infections and chronic diseases like cancer. Several clinical trials in cancer patients have confirmed that selenium supplementation helps in recovering from cancer therapy associated side effects and selenium itself does not interfere in cancer therapy. Efforts are on to develop new selenium compounds with anti-cancer properties. These aspects will be discussed in this article.