Mayo Clinic researchers are reporting positive results in early leukemia clinical trials using the chemical epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an active ingredient in green tea. The trial determined that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can tolerate the chemical fairly well when high doses are administered in capsule form and that lymphocyte count was reduced in one-third of participants.

Tait Shanafelt, M.D., Mayo Clinic hematologist and lead author of the study said: "many of the patients saw regression to some degree of their CLL". He added that the majority of individuals who entered the study with enlarged lymph nodes saw a 50% or greater decline in their lymph node size.

Researchers hope that EGCG can stabilize CLL for early stage patients or perhaps improve the effectiveness of treatment when combined with other therapies. The research has moved to the second phase of clinical testing in a follow-up trial - already fully enrolled - involving roughly the same number of patients. All will receive the highest dose administered from the previous trial.

These clinical studies are the latest steps in a multiyear project that began with tests of the green tea extract on cancer cells in the lab. After lab research showed dramatic effectiveness in killing leukemia cells, the findings were applied to studies on animal tissues and then on human cells in the lab.

More information could be found at:
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/
05/090526163010.htm