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Black tea may cure breast cancer
Thursday, January 05, 2006
HYDERABAD: Not just green tea, but black tea is also beneficial, according to
Indian scientists who have shown that a compound in black tea kills breast
cancer cells, opening a way for development of a new, safe anti-cancer drug.
"We have heard a lot about anti-cancer properties of green tea. It is because
most of such work has taken place in parts of the world where green tea is
consumed," Dr Tanya Das from the Bose Institute, Kolkata, said at a sectional
symposium at the 93rd Indian Science Congress.
"But we have used a compound called theoflavin from black tea leaves in our
experiments," she said. This is also commercially available.
Experiments were carried out on mice and human breast cancer cells in
laboratories and "the response was very good," she said. The compound led to
death of cancer cells and also caused slowing down of a process called
metastesis, which is responsible for spreading of cancer cells, Das claimed.
The compound causes death of cancer cells by affecting the balance of
"onco-proteins", the proteins which play a role in manifestation of cancer, Das
said.
"In experiments, about 50 per cent of cancer cells were killed," she said. The
anti-cancer drugs have the problem of toxicity as they kill healthy cells too and
also suppress the body's immunity.
But "our experiments showed that this compound was not toxic to cells," she
claimed. However, the absorption of this compound by the body is very low.
Thus, the better way would be to develop a new drug, for which theoflavin may
be combined with any derivative to increase its absorption by the body, she
said adding, "we are working in this direction."
Source: The Times of India
Thursday, January 05, 2006
HYDERABAD: Not just green tea, but black tea is also beneficial, according to
Indian scientists who have shown that a compound in black tea kills breast
cancer cells, opening a way for development of a new, safe anti-cancer drug.
"We have heard a lot about anti-cancer properties of green tea. It is because
most of such work has taken place in parts of the world where green tea is
consumed," Dr Tanya Das from the Bose Institute, Kolkata, said at a sectional
symposium at the 93rd Indian Science Congress.
"But we have used a compound called theoflavin from black tea leaves in our
experiments," she said. This is also commercially available.
Experiments were carried out on mice and human breast cancer cells in
laboratories and "the response was very good," she said. The compound led to
death of cancer cells and also caused slowing down of a process called
metastesis, which is responsible for spreading of cancer cells, Das claimed.
The compound causes death of cancer cells by affecting the balance of
"onco-proteins", the proteins which play a role in manifestation of cancer, Das
said.
"In experiments, about 50 per cent of cancer cells were killed," she said. The
anti-cancer drugs have the problem of toxicity as they kill healthy cells too and
also suppress the body's immunity.
But "our experiments showed that this compound was not toxic to cells," she
claimed. However, the absorption of this compound by the body is very low.
Thus, the better way would be to develop a new drug, for which theoflavin may
be combined with any derivative to increase its absorption by the body, she
said adding, "we are working in this direction."
Source: The Times of India
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