Grant to Study Effects of Green Tea Drug On Prostate Cancer, Awarded to Moffitt Cancer Center
July 11, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded a $3.6 million grant over five years to a team of physicians and scientists – led by Nagi Kumar, Ph.D., director of Nutrition Research at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and associate professor in the College of Medicine at the University of South Florida – to study the effects of Polyphenon E in preventing the progression of early signs of prostate cancer.
Polyphenon E is the drug developed from green tea which has proved to be safe and effective in preventing progression of prostate cancer in men who were diagnosed with High-grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN) lesions in the prostate, an early sign of prostate cancer — as demonstrated a small pilot study in Italy.
Based on such findings, the Moffitt team hopes to recruit and treat 240 (120 per group) men and evaluate safety and effectiveness of the drug in preventing progression of HGPIN to prostate cancer.
Their primary goal is to also evaluate if Polyphenon E reduces urinary tract symptoms that men experience with this condition.
Read the full report.
