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Green Tea
and Leukemia
The most common form of
leukemia in the U.S. is B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). There
is currently no cure for CLL and severe cases are treated with
chemotherapy. The trouble is doctors can’t be sure just how to approach
the disease since CLL affects different people in different ways. Some
may need immediate treatment, others may do fine for years with no
treatment, and still others may die within months, in spite of
treatment. This means that, in many cases, treatment with chemotherapy
may be an unnecessary and harsh approach.
A new, nontoxic
treatment for CLL is needed. Could it be green tea? Researchers at the
Mayo Clinic think it’s a possibility. In “test tube” studies using cells
taken from patients with CLL, the researchers found that EGCg
significantly increased cell death in 8 of 10 samples. They believe that
EGCg killed the cancer by blocking the tumor’s ability to establish a
new blood supply, which is necessary for its survival. If the tumor
can’t form new blood vessels, it simply starves to death.
More study is needed,
but if green tea’s EGCg turns out to be a nontoxic approach to CLL,
doctors may be able to start treating the leukemia right away, rather
than wasting precious time waiting to see how the disease manifests, or
leaping into what may be unnecessary chemotherapy treatments.
(Lee YK, Bone ND, Strege AK, et al. VEGF receptor phosphorylation status
and apoptosis is modulated by a green tea component,
epigallocatehcin-3-gallate (EGCG), in B-cell chronic lymphocytic
leukemia. Blood 2004;104(3):788-94.)
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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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