GREEN TEA POLYPHENOL BLOCKS H2O2-INDUCED INTERLEUKIN-8 PRODUCTION FROM HUMAN ALVEOLAR EPITHELIAL CELLS
Author: Katsunari Matsuoka and Noritaka Isowa and Takashi Yoshimura and Mingyao Liu and Hiromi Wada
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play crucial roles in ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of lung transplants. Reactive oxygen species may stimulate the production of neutrophil chemotactic factors such as interleukin-8 (IL-8), from alveolar epithelial cells, causing recruitment and activation of neutrophils in the reperfused tissue. Green tea polyphenol has potent anti-oxidative activities and anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing cytokine production. In the present study, we found that green tea polyphenol significantly inhibited IL-8 production induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in human lung alveolar epithelial cells (A549 line). It has been shown that mitogen activated protein kinases, such as Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 and p44/42, could mediate IL-8 production from a variety of cell types. We further investigated the effect of green tea polyphenol on these protein kinases, and demonstrated that H2O2-induced phosphorylation of JNK and p38 but not p44/42 was inhibited by green tea polyphenol in A549 cells. We speculate that green tea polyphenol may inhibit H2O2-induced IL-8 production from A549 cells through inactivation of JNK and p38.
