Green tea chemical may help treat leukemia

ROCHESTER, Minn., May 28 (UPI) -- Preliminary reports are positive for early leukemia clinical trials using an active ingredient in green tea, U.S. researchers said.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said the trial determined that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia can tolerate the chemical -- epigallocatechin gallate, commonly known as EGCG -- fairly well when high doses are administered in capsule form.

The study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that lymphocyte count -- a type of white blood cell -- was reduced in one-third of participants.

"We found not only that patients tolerated the green tea extract at very high doses, but that many of them saw regression to some degree of their chronic lymphocytic leukemia," Dr. Tait Shanafelt, the lead author, said in a statement.

"The majority of individuals who entered the study with enlarged lymph nodes saw a 50 percent or greater decline in their lymph node size."

The research has moved to the second phase of clinical testing in a follow-up trial involving roughly the same number of patients. All will receive the highest dose administered from the previous trial, Shanafelt said.