Jan. 30--A research team at Meharry Medical College wants to know if a naturally
occurring compound in green tea can offer women with uterine fibroids an
alternative to hysterectomies.
Having proved in laboratory tests that the compound can shrink the
tumors, the research team has received permission to begin human trials.
Eighty women diagnosed with the disease are sought for the study that will
last six months.
Uterine fibroids are benign tumors that commonly occur in women of
childbearing age, causing problems ranging from pain to bleeding.
African-American women are more prone to suffer from the fibroids than other
ethnic groups.
"The current treatment for this disease is all surgery," said Dr. Ayman
Al-Hendy, scientific director at Meharry's Center of Women's Health Research.
"There is no medicinal treatment, nothing you can take by mouth or injection
for this disease. If you have this disease, you have to have surgery, usually
in the form of a hysterectomy."
The green tea extract is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Eighty women
with fibroids and of any race are needed for the study. Forty will be given a
concentrated amount of the extract, while the other 40 will be given a sugar
pill so the researchers can compare results. Anyone interested in taking part
can call Meharry's Center for Women's Health Research at 615-963-3134.
Al-Hendy, the center's scientific director, looked at several compounds
before pursuing EGCG as a potential treatment.
"The actual extract from green tea was the most potent," Al-Hendy said.
"Besides being the most potent, it was a pleasant surprise because it was a
natural compound. It is very well tolerated."
Disease is common
He and Ada Knight, an associate professor and nutritionist at Meharry,
are co-investigators of the study. She understands first-hand the importance
of the study.
"I wanted five boys and five girls," Knight said. "I don't have any kids.
I had fibroids."
She said her sisters also have suffered from the benign tumors. The
Meharry team will conduct the study in a sympathetic and supportive manner,
Knight said.
"It is a very common disease," Al-Hendy said. "It is very common in women
in the productive years, so it is very rare in young girls or women after
menopause. It's usually women on average between 30 and 50. In
African-American women, about 70 percent of them have this disease in those
years. In Caucasian women and other ethnic groups, it is probably half that."
Meharry is the only site for the study because it is based on research
conducted at the college. Later clinical trials could be expanded to multiple
locations, depending upon the results of the study.
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