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 18 May 2008 15:34 BST

Green tea 'slows prostate cancer growth'

Thursday, 01 Mar 2007 14:56

Health In Focus 

One of the components in green tea could help to slow the development of prostate cancer, US researchers said today.

According to scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, low doses of the Cox-2 inhibitor drug celecoxib combined with a polyphenol from green tea (EGCG) are able to successful target the cancer's growth.

"Celecoxib and green tea have a synergistic effect – each triggering cellular pathways that, combined, are more powerful than either agent alone," said researcher Dr Hasan Mukhtar.

"We hope that a clinical trial could lead to a preventative treatment as simple as tea time."

Celecoxib has been found in previous studies in animals to suppress prostate cancer, but it can have negative effects on the cardiovascular system when administered at high doses for a long period of time.

Dr Mukhtar and colleagues have published previous research which found that green tea could have cancer-fighting properties, but his latest study shows the positive effects of using it in conjunction with celecoxib.

"We believed that COX-2 inhibitors may still prove beneficial if used in combination with complementary agents," Dr Mukhtar said.

"Our studies showed that the additive effect of green tea enables us to utilise the cancer-fighting abilities of COX-2 inhibitors, but at lower, safer doses."

Writing in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, Dr Mukhtar concludes that if tests in humans replicate the results of his tests on animals then "we could see a powerful combined therapy that is both simple to administer and relatively cost effective".

Nearly 32,000 people are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the UK.
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