Researchers find key mechanism in green tea anti-cancer properties

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

- Last updated on GMT

Key protein provides clues to green tea's touted cancer-fighting ability, say researchers
Key protein provides clues to green tea's touted cancer-fighting ability, say researchers

Related tags Chemotherapy Cancer functional beverage beverage

Green tea and apple compound epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) may trigger a process which sees oral cancer cells killed while healthy cells are left untouched, according to US researchers.

Researchers from Penn State's University's Center for Plant and Mushroom Foods for Health said they hoped the in vitro ​findings would contribute to the development of alternative treatments for oral and other types of cancer.

Previous studies suggested such a cancer-fighting capacity for polyphenols, but the mechanism was not determined.

According to the paper published in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, ​this beneficial effect may be due to an interaction in the mitochondria, the so-called powerhouse of the cell.

They said that EGCG caused oxidative damage in the cancer cell mitochondria, which then spread to the rest of the cell causing it to die by attacking its antioxidant gene defences.

However, it did not damage normal cells and could even increase their protective abilities.

The researchers studied the process in both normal human oral cells and human oral cancer cells in Petri dishes.

Key proteins

An important part of this process was the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) – a signal protein which, when over-expressed, could help contribute to disease like cancer by blood and oxygen supply and increased growth of tumours.

“These data demonstrate for the first time that VEGF is a key molecular target for specific polyphenols found in tea, apples and cocoa which potently inhibit VEGF signalling and angiogenesis [the creation of new blood vessels from existing] at physiological concentrations,”​ the researchers wrote.

They found that the EGCG “strongly inhibited”​ the binding of the signal protein to cells.

Tea as a treatment?  

Professor Joshua Lambert, one of the study’s authors, said they were now looking to test the findings in animals, something which could lead to the development of alternative cancer treatments.

"The problem with a lot of chemotherapy drugs – especially early chemotherapy drugs – is that they really just target rapidly dividing cells, so cancer divides rapidly, but so do cells in your hair follicles and cells in your intestines, so you have a lot of side effects," ​he said.

"But you don't see these sorts of side effects with green tea consumption."​ 

 

Source: Molecular Nutrition and Food Research

Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1002/mnfr.201400478

Potent inhibition of VEGFR-2 activation by tight binding of green tea epigallocatechin gallate and apple procyanidins to VEGF: Relevance to angiogenesis”

Authors: C. W. A. Moyle, A. B. Cerezo, ​M. S. Winterbone, W. J. Hollands, Y. Alexeev, P. W. Needs and P. A. Kroon

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2 comments

Love Organic Green Tea

Posted by Mike Longo,

Tea grown with pesticides, fungicides or herbicides, may not have the same beneficial health benefits since what is sprayed on the tea may end up in your cup. I would love to see a study comparing the differences.

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Green tea as healthy drink

Posted by vivky,

Green tea is known to have many benefits in various diseases due to its antioxidant properties and also has a impact on inflammatory pathways. Due to its effect on inflammatory mediator it may be effective for cancer but there is no evidence on it. For evidenced based guidelines to treat cancer check www.treatmentguideline.com cancer section. If recommended by these guidelines than can be used in appropriate does for cancer otherwise its a good healthy drink to have it daily for its other benefits.

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