My thanks today go to a blog reader who sent me this link to a February 3 2009 “Blood” abstract: http://tinyurl.com/c9ppr2 Even though I haven’t accessed the full study yet (but hope to do so soon), the abstract provides enough information to determine that if you are on Velcade (bortezomib) or any other boronic acid-based proteasome inhibitor, you shouldn’t even look sideways at a cup of green tea, let alone drink it.

A team of University of Southern California researchers discovered, in fact, that many of the substances contained in green tea, in particular EGCG, effectively prevented tumor cell death induced by bortezomib in vitro and in vivo. In plainer words: when used in the presence of EGCG and other green tea components, Velcade could not kill off any myeloma cells. So today I have a warning: if you are currently taking Velcade, please do not drink any green tea or take any supplements containing EGCG.

Of course, if you are not on bortezomib, well then, that’s another…cup of tea.

P.S. In August 2008, I posted about a “Blood” study on flavonoids and Velcade, please scroll down my Pages to “Dietary flavonoids and Bortezomib” (under “Related Topics”). A curious study, I must say. If you are a CLL patient on Velcade, for instance, you should not take any quercetin. If, however, you are a myeloma patient on Velcade, quercetin can help prime the myeloma cells to the killing effect of this drug. The flavonoid puzzle…