Green tea extract is being tested by UCLA cancer researchers to see if combined with a molecularly targeted therapy, it will prevent the recurrence of bladder cancer in former smokers.The Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the School of Public Health at UCLA, along with the departments of Urology, Medicine, Pathology, are seeking hundreds of former smokers who have had bladder cancer to try and determine whether these agents will prevent the disease recurring. The clinical trial will test the experimental drugs Polyphenon E, a green tea extract, and the drug Tarceva, which has been shown to reduce the growth of advanced cancers in patients with lung and other epithelial cell tumors.
