Green Tea Found to Kill Leukemia Cells

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Green Tea Found to Kill Leukemia Cells

Provided by Medinews.com on 10/2/2004

Researchers using laboratory cell cultures have shown that a

component of green tea known as epigallocatechin-3 gallate (EGCG)

helps kill leukemia cells by interrupting the communication signals

needed for them to survive.

The cells studied were from patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic

leukemia (CLL), which is most-often diagnosed in patients in their

mid-to-late sixties. Currently, there is no cure, although

chemotherapy is administered in severe cases. In the study, green

teas EGCG interrupted survival signals prompted leukemia cells to die

in eight of 10 patient samples tested.

While the rationale has been to spare elderly patients exposure to

toxic chemotherapy, new tests have improved the ability of doctors to

identify early-stage patients who have a more aggressive form of the

cancer. As a result, much CLL research is now focused on identifying

which initial-stage patients should be treated earlier in the course

of the disease, as reported in the February 2004 issue of the journal

Blood.

The researchers focused on green tea because epidemiologic studies of

cancer have shown that in parts of the world where green tea is

consumed, the incidence of solid tumor cancers such as breast, lung,

and gastrointestinal cancer is lower. Also, mouse-model testing of

the cancer-prevention properties of green tea have shown they protect

against solid tumors. In addition, the EGCG component of green tea

has been shown in the laboratory to induce death in cancer cells from

solid tumors. Research suggests that EGCG works by inhibiting a

pathway in the leukemia cells related to angiogenesis.

Were continuing to look for therapeutic agents that are nontoxic to

the patient but kill cancer cells, and this finding with EGCG is an

excellent start, said Neil E. Kay, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic

(Rochester, MN, USA)