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1 From the Department of Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.
2 Presented at the 17th Ross Research Conference on Medical Issues, held in San Diego, February 2224, 1998. 3 Address reprint requests to H Mukhtar, Department of Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University, 11100 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106. E-mail: hxm4{at}po.cwru.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
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10 cups (
2.4 L) of green tea per day. The usefulness of tea polyphenols may be extended by combining them with other consumer products such as food items and vitamin supplements. This "designer-item" approach may be useful for human populations, but it requires further study.
Key Words: Tea polyphenols coronary heart disease cancer EGCG (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate antioxidant
| INTRODUCTION |
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The water extract of the dry leaves of the plant Camellia sinesis, an evergreen shrub of the Theaceae family, is a popular beverage commonly known as tea. A drink that contains many compounds, including a mixture of polyphenols, tea has been consumed by some human populations for many generations and, in some parts of the world, has been considered to have health-promoting potential (1). Extensive laboratory research and the epidemiologic findings of the past 20 y have shown that polyphenolic compounds present in tea may reduce the risk of a variety of illnesses.
| CONSUMPTION, COMPOSITION, AND CHEMISTRY OF TEA |
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120 mL/d (2). Of the total amount of tea produced and consumed in the world, 78% is black, 20% is green, and <2% is oolong tea. Black tea is consumed primarily in Western countries and in some Asian countries, whereas green tea is consumed primarily in China, Japan, India, and a few countries in North Africa and the Middle East. Oolong tea production and consumption are confined to southeastern China and Taiwan (2). Green, black, and oolong teas undergo different manufacturing processes. To produce green tea, freshly harvested leaves are rapidly steamed or pan-fried to inactivate enzymes, thereby preventing fermentation and producing a dry, stable product. Epicatechins are the main compounds in green tea, accounting for its characteristic color and flavor.
For the production of black and oolong teas, the fresh leaves are allowed to wither until their moisture content is reduced to
55% of the original leaf weight, which results in the concentration of polyphenols in the leaves. The withered leaves are then rolled and crushed, initiating fermentation of the polyphenols. During these processes, the catechins are converted to theaflavins and thearubigins. Oolong tea is prepared by firing the leaves shortly after rolling to terminate the oxidation and dry the leaves. Normal oolong tea is considered to be about half as fermented as black tea. The fermentation process results in oxidation of simple polyphenols to more complex condensed polyphenols to give black and oolong teas their characteristic colors and flavors.
The composition of the tea leaves depends on a variety of factors, including climate, season, horticultural practices, and the type and age of the plant. The chemical composition of green tea is similar to that of the leaf. Green tea contains polyphenolic compounds, which include flavanols, flavandiols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids and account for30% of the dry weight of green tea leaves. Most of the polyphenols in green tea are flavanols, commonly known as catechins; the major catechins in green tea are (-)-epicatechin, (-)-epicatechin-3-gallate, (-)-epigallocatechin, and (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). In black teas, the major polyphenols are theaflavin and thearubigin. The structures of the major polyphenolic compounds present in green and black tea are shown in Figure 1
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| TEA POLYPHENOLS AND THE RISK OF CANCER |
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Much of the cancer-preventive effects of green tea are mediated by EGCG , the major polyphenolic constituent of green tea (2). One cup (240 mL) of brewed green tea contains up to 200 mg EGCG. Many consumer products, including shampoos, creams, drinks, cosmetics, lollipops, and ice creams, have been supplemented with green tea extracts and are available in grocery stores and pharmacies.
The use of biochemical modulators in cancer chemotherapy has been studied extensively (6). The adverse effects of modulating drugs can be life threatening, and their use increases the patient's medication burden as well. Thus, the substances used in diet and beverages should be studied for their potential as biochemical modulators that could increase the efficacy of therapy. In this regard, Sadzuka et al (6) showed that the oral administration of green tea enhanced the tumor-inhibitory effects of doxorubicin on Ehrlich ascites carcinomas implanted in CDF1 and BDF1 mice. The study showed that green tea treatment increases the concentration of doxorubicin in tumor but not in normal tissue. If these observations can be verified in human populations, they may have relevance to cancer chemotherapy.
| TEA POLYPHENOLS AND THE RISK OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE |
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| EFFECTS OF TEA POLYPHENOLS AGAINST OTHER DISEASES |
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| ANTIINFLAMMATORY EFFECTS OF TEA |
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| MECHANISMS OF BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TEA |
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Green tea activates mitogen-activated protein kinases
The activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases by green tea polyphenols was shown to be a potential signaling pathway in the regulation of phase II enzyme gene expression mediated by an antioxidant-responsive element (24). In this study, green tea polyphenols induced chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in human hepatoma HepG2 cells transfected with a plasmid construct containing an antioxidant-responsive element and a minimal glutathione S-transferase Ya promoter linked to the CAT reporter gene. This result indicates that green tea polyphenols stimulate the transcription of phase II detoxifying enzymes through the antioxidant-responsive element. In addition, green tea polyphenol treatment of HepG2 cells resulted in a significant activation of extracellular signalregulated kinase 2 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1, which are members of the mitogen-activated protein kinase family. Green tea polyphenol treatment also increased messenger RNA amounts of the immediate-early genes c-jun and c-fos.
EGCG inhibits urokinase activity
A widely publicized study showed that the anticancer activity of EGCG in green tea might be due to inhibition of the enzyme urokinase (u-plasminogen activator), one of the most frequently expressed enzymes in human cancers (25). With the use of molecular modeling, the authors showed that EGCG binds to urokinase, blocking His 57 and Ser 195 of the urokinase catalytic triad and extending toward Arg 35 from a positively charged loop of urokinase. This computer-based calculation was verified by quantifying the inhibition of urokinase activity with a spectrophotometric amidolytic assay. The validity of this finding has been challenged, however (26).
Green tea induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest
In recent years, apoptosis has become a challenging area of biomedical research. The life spans of both normal and cancer cells within living systems are thought to be significantly affected by the rate of apoptosis, a programmed type of cell death that differs from necrotic cell death and is regarded as a normal process of cell elimination (27). It follows that the chemopreventive agents that can modulate apoptosis and thereby affect the steady state cell population may be useful in the management and therapy of cancer. Many cancer-chemopreventive agents induce apoptosis and, conversely, several tumor promoters inhibit apoptosis (2830). It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that chemopreventive agents that have proven effects in animal tumor bioassay systems or human epidemiologic studies on the one hand and that induce apoptosis of cancer cells on the other hand may have wider implications for the management of cancer. Only a few chemopreventive agents are known to cause apoptosis, however (31). We found that EGCG induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human epidermoid carcinoma cells A431 (32). Importantly, we also found that the apoptotic response of EGCG was specific to cancer cells, because the induction of apoptosis was also observed in human carcinoma keratinocytes HaCaT, human prostate carcinoma cells DU145, and mouse lymphoma cells LY-R but not in normal human epidermal keratinocytes.
EGCG suppresses extracellular signals and cell proliferation through epidermal growth factor receptor binding
Liang et al (33) showed that EGCG could significantly inhibit DNA synthesis in A431 cells. In addition, EGCG inhibited the protein tyrosine kinase activities of epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and fibroblast growth factor receptor but not of pp60v-src, protein kinase C, and protein kinase A. EGCG also inhibited the phosphorylation of EGF receptor by EGF and blocked the binding of EGF to its receptor. These findings suggest that EGCG might inhibit the process of tumor formation by blocking cellular signal transduction pathways.
EGCG blocks the induction of nitric oxide synthase by down-regulating transcription factor nuclear factor
B
Lin and Lin (34) assessed the effects of EGCG on nitric oxide production by murine peritoneal macrophages. Their results suggest that EGCG blocked early events of nitric oxide synthase induction by inhibiting the binding of transcription factor nuclear factor
B to the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) promoter, thereby inhibiting the induction of iNOS transcription.
EGCG and theaflavins inhibit tumor promoter-induced activator protein 1 activation and cell transformation
To examine antitumor promotion effects of EGCG and theaflavins at the molecular level, Dong et al (35) used a JB6 mouse epidermal cell line, a system that has been used extensively as an in vitro model for tumor promotion studies. EGCG and theaflavins inhibited EGF- or 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetateinduced cell transformation in a dose-dependent manner. EGCG and theaflavins also inhibited activator protein 1 (AP-1)-dependent transcriptional activity and DNA binding activity. Finally, this study showed that the inhibition of AP-1 activation occurs through the inhibition of a pathway dependent on c-Jun N-terminal kinase.
| TEA AND CLINICAL TRIALS |
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10 cups (
2.4 L) of green tea/d, 30 cancer patients with advanced solid tumors will be given daily capsules of formulated powdered green tea for
6 mo (if the treatment appears beneficial). | CONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS |
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Because information on the bioavailability of tea polyphenols after tea consumption is limited in humans, studies on absorption, distribution, and metabolism of green and black tea polyphenols in animals and humans are needed. After careful evaluation of the available data and additional studies, specific recommendations may be made for consumption of tea by humans. The usefulness of tea polyphenols may be extended by combining them with other consumer products, such as food items and vitamin supplements. This "designer-item" approach may be useful for the human population.
| REFERENCES |
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