2003 Volume 66 Issue 1 Pages 80-85
The beneficial properties of green tea and its components are increasingly being reported in scientific literature. Green tea and its components inhibit carcinogenesis, tumor proliferation, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. Although epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and epicatechin (EC) are major components of green tea flavanol, their on cellular signal transduction is not well understood. We investigated how EGCG and EC affect proliferation, telomerase activity, multidrug resistance 1 (MDR 1) mRNA expression, and topoisomerase (TOPO) mRNA expression in HSC 4 cells.
We found that EGCG inhibited proliferation of HSC 4 cells, while EC seemed to enhance the growth inhibition that was induced by EGCG in HSC 4 cells. In addition, telomerase activity was inhibited in both the EGCG and EC treated groups. There was no difference between the controls and either the group treated with EGCG or the one treated with EC. Also, there was no significant difference between MDR 1 mRNA and TOPO mRNA expression in the groups treated with EGCG or EC. We found that the expression of MDR 1 and TOPO mRNA was inhibited in both the EGCG and EC treated groups. These results indicate that EGCG might be beneficial as a new antitumor agent. Shika Igaku (J Osaka Odontol Soc) 2003 Mar; 66(1): 80-85.
