Hamblin Terry
Leuk Res. 2006 Jun;30(6):649-50. doi: 10.1016/j.leukres.2005.10.023. Epub 2005 Dec 6.
Plants have been the source of many medicines in the pharmacopoeia. So much so that an industry has arisen selling plant extracts as health foods. To a great degree it operates over the internet and it chiefly caters to the worried well. However, cancer patients frequently take plant extracts in addition to their prescribed medicines. These extracts are not biologically inactive, and many have important pro-apoptotic effects on cancer cell-lines in vitro. In this issue a study of the in vivo effects of green tea extract in low grade lymphomas is reported. The results are sufficiently encouraging to initiate a formal clinical trial.
