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" Cancer Decisions "

 

THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (05/01/04)

 

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Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

Newsletter #131 05/01/04

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HERE AT THE MOSS REPORTS

 

 

It is nice to have good news to report. In this issue I highlight the role of a

common food constituent, EGCG, found in green tea, in fighting cancer. True,

this is only a laboratory study, but it correlates with a great deal of data

showing that people who drink tea have lower rates of various kinds of cancer

than those who don't. What is especially surprising is that the mechanism by

which green tea works may be the same as that behind some expensive new drugs.

As usual, Mother Nature got there first.

 

Here at the Moss Reports we are always analyzing the latest developments in

cancer research to bring you useful information. We continue our campaign to

separate the wheat from the chaff and to distinguish those treatments that are

truly useful from those that only appear to be so. I have prepared a series of

comprehensive and up-to-date reports on 200+ different cancer diagnoses. I also

offer phone consultations. To find if these may be helpful to you please visit

our website, www.cancerdecisions.com, or call our office at 800-980-1234

(814-238-3367 when calling from outside the US). We look forward to helping you.

 

 

 

THE POOR MAN'S AVASTIN?

 

 

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a malignant blood disease that afflicts

about 7,000 Americans per year and kills 4,500. But now scientists at the Mayo

Clinic have found a way of killing CLL cells in the test tube that could

potentially be developed into a treatment for CLL, and possibly other cancers,

in living humans.

 

The agent in question is called epigallocatechin (EGCG). It is an antioxidant

that is found both black and green tea, but more abundantly in the unfermented

green variety.

 

The anticancer activity of green tea has been known for years. Scientists have

identified at least one of the mechanisms by which EGCG seems to work to fight

cancer: it inhibits a key " signaling pathway, " called vascular endothelial

growth factor (VEGF), which is responsible for transmitting instructions at the

molecular level to cancer cells, prompting them to grow and multiply.

 

VEGF has been much in the news lately, since it is the same signaling pathway

that is targeted by two recently FDA-approved drugs Avastin and Erbitux.

However, one glaring difference between green tea and Erbitux or Avastin is the

price. The FDA-approved drugs are sold at US $40,000 to $50,000 per patient per

year. By contrast, an ample supply of green tea can be purchased for as little

as $40 to $50 per year. You might call tea " the poor man's Avastin " - although

of course head-to-head comparisons of this sort are not available.

 

 

Nontoxic Treatments

 

 

" We're continuing to look for therapeutic agents that are nontoxic to the

patient but kill cancer cells, " said the senior author of the study, Dr. Neil E.

Kay, of the Mayo Clinic. " [T]his finding with EGCG is an excellent start.

Understanding this mechanism and getting these positive early results give us a

lot to work with in terms of offering patients with this disease more effective,

easily tolerated therapies earlier. "

 

We can only hope that the Mayo Clinic group will follow up on this and conduct

trials comparing the efficacy of low-priced green tea with overpriced

pharmaceutical products.

 

Previous findings from Dr. Kay's group and other scientists have suggested that

VEGF is one of the factors that enable CLL cells to multiply and accumulate so

prodigiously. In this new study, the researchers measured the effect of EGCG

from green tea on both the level of VEGF signaling and on the survival of CLL

cells. They wanted to find out if green tea components could inhibit or

interfere with these survival signals in CLL cells. They found that the presence

of VEGF did indeed make CLL cells more resistant to programmed cell death

(apoptosis), a natural process by which the body rids itself of old or defective

cells. Exactly as hoped, treatment with this green tea component enabled cancer

cells to undergo apoptosis. This resulted in the annihilation of many leukemia

cells.

 

Of course no responsible person would recommend, on the basis of this study

alone, that one should avoid or abandon conventional treatment and take green

tea instead. Although these findings come from one of the most prestigious

medical institutions in the world they are still only test-tube studies, and as

such, although they may provide a conceptual framework for future

investigations, they cannot yet be extrapolated to form the basis of a new

standard of treatment for full-blown CLL. However because of its relatively

nontoxic nature, even Mayo Clinic experts agree that EGCG could " be tested in

early stage high-risk individuals with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. "

 

 

Fighting HPV

 

 

In a separate article, which appeared in October, 2003, EGCG taken in the form

of a capsule, and also applied as an ointment, showed remarkable activity

against the human papilloma virus (HPV) in women who were infected with sores or

growths in the cervix. Fifty-one Korean women with precancerous cervical lesions

(some of which were quite severe) were placed in four treatment groups. An

ointment containing a different green tea derivative, called poly E, was applied

to the lesions of 27 patients twice per week. In addition, patients received a

200 milligram (mg) capsule of poly E or of EGCG orally every day for eight to 12

weeks. They were then compared to 39 untreated patients who served as the

control group in this clinical trial.

 

Here are some of the results of that study:

 

--20 out of 27 patients (74 percent) who received poly E ointment therapy showed

a beneficial response;

--Six out of eight patients who received poly E ointment plus poly E capsule

therapy (75 percent) also showed a beneficial response;

--Three out of six patients (50 percent) under poly E capsule therapy showed a

response.

--Six out of 10 patients (60 percent) who received EGCG capsule therapy showed a

response.

--Overall, a 69 percent response rate (35/51) was noted for treatment with green

tea extracts, as compared with just a 10 percent response rate (4/39) in

untreated controls. The difference was statistically significant.

 

The authors conclude that " green tea extracts in the form of ointment and

capsules are effective for treating cervical lesions, suggesting that green tea

extracts can be a potential therapy regimen for patients with HPV infected

cervical lesions. "

 

Could tea or its constituents be used to fight cancer in humans? Research moves

ever so slowly in that direction. It is now over 15 years since Dr. Hirota

Fujiki, a chemist at Japan's Saitama Cancer Center Research Institute, first

analyzed green tea and isolated EGCG as the main source of its apparent

anticancer activity. He presented his findings to the Fourth Chemical Congress

of North America in New York. Some may remember the excitement when this was

written up favorably in the New York Times (March 14, 1991).

 

How goes the research? At www.clinicaltrials.gov, a comprehensive database of

trials that include nearly 2,500 entries on cancer, there is mention of only one

clinical trial of green tea. For the record, this trial is titled " Polyphenon E

(green tea extract) and low-dose aspirin in preventing cancer in women at high

risk for developing breast cancer. " This trial is being carried out at the

Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center of UCLA in Los Angeles. Some of the patients

in the trial will receive green tea extract, some will receive aspirin and

others yet will receive an inert placebo " sugar pill. " The study will continue

collecting data for ten years - a time period during which an estimated five

million or more Americans will die of cancer. I have not found any other

American clinical trials relating to green tea. In Canada there is a trial of

green tea as a preventative in former smokers with lung dysplasia. (The

principal investigator is Stephen Lam MD of the British Columbia

Cancer Agency 2003.) There may be a few others, but they represent a minuscule

proportion of expenditure in the faltering war on cancer.

 

This failure to move full-steam-ahead to develop such a promising treatment

might seem inexplicable to those who are new to the cancer field. But it does

not surprise those of us who have long studied the institutional structure of

drug development, especially in the United States. The Tufts Center for the

Study of Drug Development, Boston, has estimated that the cost of developing a

new pharmaceutical drug now averages US $802 million. This astronomical cost

rules out all but the major pharmaceutical companies, with their big budgets and

stringent profit requirements. Regardless of whom you blame for this appalling

situation, it is clear that no one will invest in new drugs if they cannot be

assured not only of recouping their initial investment, but also of making a

substantial profit. Patented drugs, such as Iressa, Erbitux and Avastin, fit

that profile. Unpatented green tea does not. It therefore remains in the realm

of " unproven therapy, " beyond the pale of orthodox procedures.

Until something fundamental changes we medical consumers will have to

extrapolate from the scanty data that a few dedicated scientists continue to

uncover, all the while enjoying what author Thomas Garvey called in 1658 " that

Excellent and by All Physicians approved China drink. "

 

I myself favor organic and decaffeinated teas.

--Ralph W. Moss, PhD

 

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References

 

Ahn WS, Yoo J, Huh SW, Kim CK, Lee JM, Namkoong SE, Bae SM, Lee IP. Protective

effects of green tea extracts (polyphenon E and EGCG) on human cervical lesions.

Eur J Cancer Prev. 2003 Oct;12(5):383-90.

 

Canadian clinical trial:

http://www.ccac-accc.ca/news.asp?frontpage=94

 

Lee YK, Bone ND, Strege AK, Jelinek DF, Kay NE. VEGF receptor phosphorylation is

modulated by a green tea component, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) in B cell

chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood. 2004 Mar 2 [Epub ahead of print]

 

Tufts Centers for the Study of Drug Development:

http://csdd.tufts.edu/About/

 

Warden BA, Smith LS, Beecher GR, Balentine DA, Clevidence BA. Catechins are

bioavailable in men and women drinking black tea throughout the day. J Nutr.

2001 Jun;131(6):1731-7.

 

 

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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

 

The news and other items in this newsletter are intended for informational

purposes only. Nothing in this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for

professional medical advice.

 

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