Nutraceutical Benefits of Green Tea in Beta-Thalassemia with Iron Overload

Abstract

Secondary iron overload in patients with β-thalassemia is caused by multiple blood transfusions and increased iron absorption. Most of them die from cardiac arrest and infections while others from oxidative tissue damage and organ dysfunction. Under high saturation of transferrin with iron, redox-active iron such as nontransferrin-bound iron, labile plasma iron, and cellular labile iron pool is prone to the production of reactive oxygen species, oxidized biomolecules, oxidative tissue damages, and complications. Iron chelation therapy and antioxidant supplementation are a supportive treatment for patients' better quality of life and life expectancy. Green tea (Camellia sinensis) extract (GTE) is abundant with polyphenols, mainly epigallocatechin-3-gallate and nutraceuticals, which are beneficial for cell functions and health. Importantly, GTE possesses antioxidant, free radical scavenging, metal-chelating, anti-hemolysis properties in cell cultures, animals, and humans. This article has reported modes of actions and challenged such wonderful properties of green tea used to remove excessive iron, scavenge harmful radicals, restore malfunctions of vital organs, and treat patients with β-thalassemia with iron overload. Infeasibility and sustainability, the benefits of green tea can be applied for use in other diseases with iron toxicity and oxidative stress.

Effects of green tea extract treatment on erythropoiesis and iron parameters in iron-overloaded β-thalassemic mice

“…Remarkably, it also restored the decreased hepatic Hamp1 mRNA expression levels in ferrocene−fed BKO mice (Upanan et al, 2015). Consistently, we have revealed that GTE effectively chelated the iron in the liver and decreased the ROS in ferrocene−fed BKO mice (Srichairatanakool et al, 2006;Saewong et al, 2010;Koonyosying et al, 2020a). Lastly, we have confirmed that levels of TBARS are used as simple biomarkers for the assessment of oxidative status in β−thalassemia patients (Meral et al, 2000;Ondei Lde et al, 2013) in the plasma, liver, spleen and kidneys of iron dextran−loaded BKO mice were dramatically decreased after treatments of GTE, DFP and a combination of the two when compared to mice that had not received treatment (DI group).…”