Green tea is a daily beverage, a non-oxidized non-fermented product containing at least four green tea catechins. Considering our first results when repeated applications of (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) prevented tumor promotion in mouse skin, we have continued to look at green tea as a possible cancer preventive agent. 1) The 10-year prospective cohort study by Drs. K. Nakachi and K. Imai revealed that drinking 10 Japanese-size cups (120 mL/cup) of green tea per day delayed cancer onset in humans by 7.3 years among females and by 3.2 years among males. The delay of cancer onset is of course significant evidence of primary cancer prevention in humans. 2) In collaboration with Dr. H. Moriwaki's group we successfully presented a prototype of tertiary cancer prevention showing that 10 Japanese-size cups of green tea daily, supplemented with tablets of green tea extract (G.T.E), reduced recurrence of colorectal adenomas in polypectomy patients by 51.6% (from 31% to 15%). 3) In 1999, we first reported that the combination of green tea catechins and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs showed synergistic anticancer effects in both in vitro and in vivo experiments, along with elucidation of the mechanism. 4) Further studies by other investigators have revealed that various combinations of EGCG or green tea extract and anticancer compounds inhibit tumor volume in xenograft mouse models implanted with various human cancer cell lines. Green tea is a cancer preventive, and green tea catechins act as synergists with anticancer compounds.
Adenoma ; Animals ; Beverages ; Catechin* ; Cell Line ; Cohort Studies ; Cooperative Behavior ; Drinking ; Female ; Heterografts ; Humans ; Male ; Mice ; Prospective Studies ; Recurrence ; Research Personnel ; Skin ; Tablets ; Tea* ; Tumor Burden

To understand the regulation of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-associated gastric carcinogenesis, we examined the effect of B-cell translocation gene 2 (BTG2) expression on the biological activity of Tipα, an oncoprotein secreted from H. pylori. BTG2, the human ortholog of mouse TIS21 (BTG2(/TIS21)), has been reported to be a primary response gene that is transiently expressed in response to various stimulations. Here, we report that BTG2 is constitutively expressed in the mucous epithelium and parietal cells of the gastric gland in the stomach. Expression was increased in the mucous epithelium following H. pylori infection in contrast to its loss in human gastric adenocarcinoma. Indeed, adenoviral transduction of BTG2(/TIS21) significantly inhibited Tipα activity in MKN-1 and MGT-40, human and mouse gastric cancer cells, respectively, thereby downregulating tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) expression and Erk1/2 phosphorylation by reducing expression of nucleolin, a Tipα receptor. Chromatin immunoprecipitation proved that BTG2(/TIS21) inhibited Sp1 expression and its binding to the promoter of the nucleolin gene. In addition, BTG2(/TIS21) expression significantly reduced membrane-localized nucleolin expression in cancer cells, and the loss of BTG2(/TIS21) expression induced cytoplasmic nucleolin availability in gastric cancer tissues, as evidenced by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Higher expression of BTG2 and lower expression of nucleolin were accompanied with better overall survival of poorly differentiated gastric cancer patients. This is the first report showing that BTG2(/TIS21) inhibits nucleolin expression via Sp1 binding, which might be associated with the inhibition of H. pylori-induced carcinogenesis. We suggest that BTG2(/TIS21) is a potential inhibitor of nucleolin in the cytoplasm, leading to inhibition of carcinogenesis after H. pylori infection.