Abstract
Anti-allergic and anti-cancer metastatic components in tealeaves were screened using animal cultured cells. We found that epigallocatechin-3-O-(3-O-methyl) gallate (EGCG3"Me) or epigallocatechin3-O-(4-O-methyl) gallate (EGCG4"Me) inhibited mast cell activation (histamine release, leukotrienes release, and degranulation) through suppression of intracellular protein kinasese, so we are now developing anti-allergic foods using tea cultivar 'Benifuki' which is rich in EGCG3"Me. Furthermore, EGCG and methylated EGCGs suppressed the gelatin degradation mediated by matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), which were secreted into the conditioned medium of human metastatic cell line HT1080. This suppression of MMPs activities was correlated with that EGCG derivatives inhibited the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA dosedependently. Especially EGCG suppressed MMPs mRNA expression and further MMP-9 promoter activity significantly. Furthermore, EGCG strongly inhibited the activation of extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK1/2) which is group of MAPkinase (MAPK) was necessary for MMP-9 upregulation. These findings supposed that methylated EGCGs in tealeaves are useful for development of anti-allergic or anti-metastatic functional foods.
