Using Coenzyme Q10 along with Interferon promising for melanoma survivors

EGCG improves blood flow in patients with coronary heart disease


Taking a large amount of Green Teas major antioxidant known as EGCG relaxes a persons blood vessels and improves blood flow in patients with coronary artery disease. In this human clinical trial scientists from the Section of Cardiology, Boston Medical Center, at Boston University School of Medicine, gave patients with coronary artery disease (Americas biggest killer) 300mg of EGCG daily for two weeks or an inactive, look- alike placebo for two-weeks in a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover study. The EGCG-Green Tea supplement relaxed the cells lining blood vessel walls and improved blood flow; a very important and protective result in CHD. The effects faded by 14 hours after the supplement was stopped (a predictable outcome). The study is published in the April 2007 issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
Early surgical removal is the most successful therapy for melanoma. Drug therapies for this cancer are still disappointing. Currently there is no standard adjuvant drug therapy for melanoma according to these researchers. Scientists have found that the level of Coenzyme Q10 is low in both melanoma tissue and in the blood of patients with melanoma. This data and the results of clinical trials of patients with other types of advanced cancers prompted further research on Coenzyme Q10 for treating melanoma; the most vicious type of skin cancer and one of the most dangerous cancers overall.

In this study, researchers from the Department of Dermatology and Biochemistry, University of Rome, gave patients with stage I and II melanoma that was surgically removed, 400mg of Coenzyme Q10 daily along with interferon alpha-2b twice daily, or interferon alone without Coenzyme Q10 for 3 years. The efficacy of treatment was evaluated based on the number of recurrences at the five year mark. There was a lower rate of recurrence in patients receiving Coenzyme Q10 and Interferon together however the length of the study was not long enough to determine differences in survival rate. The study was published in the June 2007 issue of the British journal Melanoma Research.