Аннотация:Selenium is essential to mammals and many other life forms, but its ingested levels are critical to health because too little or too much can have severe consequences on the well-being of an organism. Selenium may exhibit its effects through selenocompounds and/or selenoproteins; however, selenoproteins have received much more attention, and the data suggest that they are primarily responsible for the health benefits of this element. Selenium has been recognized for its role in preventing, and more recently in promoting, cancer. A combination of bioinformatics and experimental approaches and mouse models uncovered the roles of housekeeping and stress-related selenoproteins, and individual selenoproteins, in health and disease, including their contrasting roles in cancer. These and other topics on the role of selenium and selenoproteins in cancer are discussed.