Apoptosis happens all the time in a healthy body. The cells then decide that instead of being murdered, they will commit suicide. Mukhtar believes study of green tea will lead to fuller understanding of the process of apoptosis. Researchers will try to decipher the molecular mechanism of green tea's protective effects. They will try to find out how to interfere with cancer development by adminstering purified polyphenolic derivatives, said Mukhtar.
Green tea appears to be potentially an ideal agent for chemoprevention.
The investigators want to run clinical trials to see if indeed green tea can prevent cancer in humans. A nutritional trial for prostate cancer including green tea in the diet is ongoing at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York. You'll reach listings of the CWRU study and, for now, three earlier studies. You can read the abstracts online. Bruce Carlin found that in mice high doses of green tea polyphenols prevent prostate cancer cells from growing.