Green tea provides prostate cancer treatment hope

A compound found in green tea could help to provide a new preventative prostate cancer treatment, researchers have claimed.

Administration of the polyphenol EGCG in conjunction with low doses of the Cox-2 inhibitor drug celecoxib has been shown to successfully slow the development of prostate cancer.

"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 of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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

Previous research has shown celecoxib to be effective at suppressing prostate cancer in animals, but high doses of the drug over long periods of time can harm the cardiovascular system.

Dr Mukhtar added: "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."

The study is published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

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