IMR Press / FBL / Volume 9 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.2741/1421

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
Green tea and tea polyphenols in cancer prevention
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1 The Prevention Program, Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, and Department of Pathology, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, 48201, USA
2 Department of Chemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6, Canada
3 Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology and the Open Laboratory for Chiral Technology, Institute of Molecular Technology for Drug Discovery and Synthesis, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2004, 9(4), 2618–2631; https://doi.org/10.2741/1421
Published: 1 September 2004
Abstract

The cancer-preventive effects of green tea and its main constituent (-)-epigallocatechin gallate [(-)-EGCG] are widely supported by results from epidemiological, cell culture, animal and clinical studies in the recent decade. In vitro cell culture studies show that tea polyphenols potently induce apoptotic cell death and cell cycle arrest in tumor cells but not in their normal cell counterparts. Green tea polyphenols affect several signal transduction pathways, including growth factor-mediated, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-dependent, and ubiquitin/proteasome degradation pathways. Epidemiological studies have suggested that the consumption of green tea lowers the risk of cancer. Various animal studies have revealed that treatment by green tea inhibits tumor incidence and multiplicity in different organ sites such as skin, lung, liver, stomach, mammary gland and colon. Phase I and II clinical trials were carried out recently to explore the anticancer effects of green tea in patients with cancer. At this time, more mechanistic research, animal studies, and clinical trials are necessary to further evaluate the role of green tea in cancer prevention.

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