Green Tea Polyphenol + COX-2 Inhibitor Can Slow Progression of Prostate Cancer
March 6, 2007 by Gloria Gamat
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
A green tea polyphenol called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) when combined with low doses of COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib, could slow the progression of human prostate cancer.
Such were the findings of researchers from University of Wisconsin-Madison reported in the March 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
According to Hasan Mukhtar, Ph.D., professor of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin and member of Wisconsin’s Paul Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center:
“Celecoxib and green tea have a synergistic effect — each triggering cellular pathways that, combined, are more powerful than either agent alone. We hope that a clinical trial could lead to a preventative treatment as simple as tea time.”
Both the green tea polyphenol and COX-2 inhibitors, in separate studies have been found to have anti-cancer properties.
Alone, both EGCG and NS-398, a COX-2 inhibitor similar to celecoxib, demonstrated the ability to slow cancer cell growth and limit the presence of known cancer-promoting proteins within the cell samples. Together, EGCG and NS-398 suppressed cell growth by an additional 15 to 28 percent
The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, has been conducted on cultured human prostate cancer cells and on mouse models. The researchers are hopeful that they could replicate the results in human clinical trials.
Find more details from the full report.
