In Vivo. 2000 May-Jun; 14(3): 431-5.

Effects of combined treatment with coffee cherry and whole-body hyperthermia on the growth of spontaneous mammary tumours in SHN mice.

Udagawa Y, Nagasawa H.

Experimental Animal Research Laboratory, Meiji University, Kawasaki, Japan.

Based on findings that free access in drinking water of the extract of coffee cherry (CC), the residue left after the removal of coffee beans, and whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) induced by far-infrared ray (FIR) can markedly inhibit the growth of spontaneous mammary tumours of SHN mice, the effects of the combined treatment with these agents were examined in this study. The significant inhibition of tumour growth by single treatment with either CC or WBH was not enhanced by their combination. Meanwhile, the body weight loss during WBH was significantly decreased by CC. Normal and preneoplastic growth of mammary glands and plasma component levels were affected little by either treatment. The findings confirmed the "normalization effects" of CC usually obtained with natural products and stress the need for prudence in the choice of any agent, natural or synthetic, to be applied simultaneously to increase the efficacy of WBH.