Chronic Inflammatory Diseases and Green Tea Polyphenols

Abstract

Chronic inflammatory diseases affect millions of people globally and the incidence rate is on the rise. While inflammation contributes to the tissue healing process, chronic inflammation can lead to life-long debilitation and loss of tissue function and organ failure. Chronic inflammatory diseases include hepatic, gastrointestinal and neurodegenerative complications which can lead to malignancy. Despite the millennial advancements in diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, there remains no effective cure for patients who suffer from inflammatory diseases. Therefore, patients seek alternatives and complementary agents as adjunct therapies to relieve symptoms and possibly to prevent consequences of inflammation. It is well known that green tea polyphenols (GrTPs) are potent antioxidants with important roles in regulating vital signaling pathways. These comprise transcription nuclear factor-kappa B mediated I kappa B kinase complex pathways, programmed cell death pathways like caspases and B-cell lymphoma-2 and intervention with the surge of inflammatory markers like cytokines and production ofcyclooxygenase-2. This paper concisely reviews relevant investigations regarding protective effects of GrTPs and some reported adverse effects, as well as possible applications for GrTPs in the treatment of chronic and inflammatory complications.

Intestine‐on‐chip device increases ECM remodeling inducing faster epithelial cell differentiation

“…To further analyze the anti-inflammatory action of In-OC in response to EGCG treatment, the epithelial as well as myofibroblast-mediated release of immune mediators IL-10 was measured. IL-10 secretion was upregulated after EGCG treatment, as reported in Figure 5d, establishing the mucosal protection (Oz, 2017) that confirms the anti-inflammatory effects of EGCG-treated compared with the untreated samples. Finally, as is known, EGCG was also a potential anti-fibrotic agent due to its attenuating effect on potential fibrotic markers (Sriram, Kalayarasan, & Sudhandiran, 2009).…”

The effect of green tea on inflammatory mediators: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized clinical trials

“…Dietary antioxidants protect against inflammation caused by oxidative stress. Antioxidants such as flavonoids in green tea may decrease inflammatory response through scavenging free radicals and inhibiting nuclear factor‐κB as oxidant‐sensitive transcription factors (Mitjavila & Moreno, ; Oz, ).…”

Green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate increases atherosclerotic plaque stability in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice fed a high-fat diet

“…Of these, EGCG is the most abundant catechin in green tea [6]. Numerous reports have demonstrated that the green tea polyphenol EGCG is a potent antioxidant that plays an important role in inhibiting inflammation [7,8]. In our previous study, we showed that EGCG suppressed tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) [9].…”