Tea Tree Discovery at UWA

A group of researchers at the University of Western Australia has found that Tea-tree oil has cancer-fighting properties and suggests it could one day be used to treat non-melanoma skin cancers or pre-cancerous lesions.

The topical application of a tea tree oil formulation significantly reduced tumour size in a mouse model after one treatment and rendered it undetectable after four days treatment.

Dr Sara Greay Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences research associate at UWA said, “We mixed a tea tree oil formulation to increase its penetration and decrease its evaporation and we applied it to mice that had tumours implanted under their skin.”

“The problem with these (conventional treatments) is that they need to be applied for quite a long time, it can be anywhere from 3-16 weeks of application.
“The advantage of our treatment is that we feel that we will be able to get a greater anti-tumour effect and it’s a shorter treatment regime so a treatment only needs to be applied for potentially 4-8 days.

The tea tree oil formulation used in the study still requires testing in human patients and Dr Greay strongly advises against self-medicating.

“Before we proceed and make any more conclusions it (the tea tree oil formulation) needs to be rigorously tested in human patients for safety and efficacy against pre-cancerous lesions and skin cancer.
“If people suspect they have a skin cancer of any kind or if they have been diagnosed with a pre-cancerous lesion or squamous cell or basal cell carcinomas they need to go and talk to their dermatologist.”
The Tea Tree Oil Research Group are currently looking to secure funding to conduct a clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of three tea tree oil formulations in patients with pre-cancerous lesions.

These developments follow developments earlier this year in the UK of a sticking plaster approach to the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancers. The treatment, now being used in hospitals across the UK requires the patients to be given a drug which makes the affected skin sensitive to light.

The light-emitting Ambulight PDT device, as with the potential tea tree treatment, aims to reduce both treatment and recovery time for the patients and reduce the time spent in hospital. Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers both in Australia and the UK.