Green tea compound slows progression of leukemia

[tom30]

Green tea compound slows progression of leukemia


One green tea compound may be used to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia or CLL, which would not otherwise need any treatment until symptoms show up, according to a new study led by Tait Shanafelt, M.D. and colleagues at Mayo Clinic.

The phase II trial of 42 patients reported today June 7 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG exhibited a moderate clinical activity in stabilizing the type of leukemia.

Mayo clinic researchers performed lab studies eight years ago on the anticancer effect of EGCG and found the compound can reduce the survival of CLL leukemia cells.

The phase I trial showed that EGCG could reduce leukemia cells in the blood by about 20 percent in 30 percent of leukemia patients and shrink the enlarged lymph nodes by 50 percent in about 70 percent of the patients. The results were published in May 2009 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

DL

[Neil Cuadra]

For those who are interested, the source of this news was a clinic trial report from the Mayo Clinic in June 2010.