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Green Tea
and Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive and usually
fatal form of cancer that has gotten a lot of press lately due to the
unfortunate plight of actor Patrick Swayze. Although relatively
uncommon, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death
in the U.S. This is probably due to the fact that diagnosis typically
doesn’t occur until the disease is in its later stages and has begun to
spread. Once the symptoms of pancreatic cancer do surface, they can be
so vague (pain in the upper abdomen, weight loss, lack of appetite,
jaundice) that pinpointing the cause can be difficult.
Knowing that green tea’s EGCg has cancer-fighting
properties, researchers from the University of Texas decided to pit it against
human pancreatic cancer cells and see what happened.1 Amazingly, they
found that EGCg kept the cells from going through their normal growth phases and
induced “cell suicide.” In a follow-up study, the same researchers found that
EGCg inhibited pancreatic cancer growth, invasion, metastasis (spreading), and
the development of the blood supply necessary to sustain a tumor.2
And that’s not all. In an article published in the
International Journal of Oncology in 2009, researchers found that combining
EGCg with a potent inducer of “cell suicide” called TRAIL, brought about higher
rates of cell death than either EGCg or TRAIL alone.3 They concluded
that “this combination treatment strategy has potential therapeutic advantage
for pancreatic carcinoma.”
While there is no proof that green tea’s EGCg can prevent,
slow or stop pancreatic cancer, it seems quite likely that it can offer certain
benefits. Future studies will tell us more.
1Shankar
S, Suthakar G, Srivastava RK. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate inhibits cell cycle and
induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer. Front Biosci 2007;12:5039-51.
2Shankar
S, Ganapathy S, Hingorani SR, Srivastava RK. EGCG inhibits growth, invasion,
angiogenesis and metastasis of pancreatic cancer. Front Biosci
2008;13:440-52.
3Basu
A, Haldar S. Combinatorial effect of epigallocatechin-3 gallate and TRAIL on
pancreatic cancer cell death. Int J Oncol 2009;34(1):281-6.
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Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
GreenTeaLibrary.com, the most
comprehensive collection of scientific information describing the
health benefits of green tea.
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