Cancer prevention with green tea and monitoring by a new biomarker, hnRNP B1
Author: Hirota Fujiki and Masami Suganuma and Sachiko Okabe and Eisaburo Sueoka and Naoko Sueoka and Nobukazu Fujimoto and Yuri Goto and Satoru Matsuyama and Kazue Imai and Kei Nakachi
The study of green tea polyphenols as cancer preventives is approaching a new era, with significant results accumulating rapidly. This paper briefly reviews four topics related to mechanisms of action of tea polyphenols: (I) identification of the genes commonly affected by EGCG, as demonstrated by Clontech’s Atlas™ cDNA Expression Array; (II) the significance of heterogenous nuclear ribonucleoprotein B1 (hnRNP B1) as a new biomarker for early detection of lung cancer, and inhibition of its expression by EGCG; (III) the synergistic or additive effects of EGCG with the cancer preventive agents, sulindac and tamoxifen, on induction of apoptosis in PC-9 cells and on inhibition of intestinal tumor development in multiple intestinal neoplasia (Min) mice; (IV) the results of a 10 year prospective cohort study demonstrating the effectiveness of daily consumption of green tea in preventing cancer, and a prototype study for developing green tea beverage as cancer preventive.
