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Green tea consumption: an alternative approach to managing oral lichen planus

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Abstract

Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a T-cell-mediated inflammatory autoimmune disease, whose pathogenesis includes both antigen-specific and non-specific mechanisms. Antigen-specific mechanisms in OLP consist of antigen presentation, lymphocyte activation, proliferation and migration as well as keratinocyte apoptosis mediated by CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells, whereas non-specific mechanisms include mast cell degranulation and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activation in OLP lesions. Deficient antigen-specific transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-mediated immunosuppression may also contribute to the pathogenesis of OLP. In addition, OLP is considered to be a potentially malignant disorder with a malignant transformation rate of 0–5.3%. Green tea, especially epigallocatechin-3-gallate, possesses anti-inflammatory and chemopreventive properties. It can inhibit antigen presentation, T-cell activation, proliferation and migration, keratinocyte apoptosis, nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-кB) activation and MMP-9 activity, as well as regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) expression, and can modulate the imbalance between TGF-β and interferon-γ signaling, all of which are involved in the pathogenesis of OLP. Thus, our hypothesis is that green tea consumption may decrease OLP incidence and provide a neoteric, nontoxic and inexpensive therapeutic strategy for OLP. Furthermore, green tea might be a possible agent for preventing malignancies in OLP.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Grant (No. 30973311, No. 81170972) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Basic Science of Stomatology (Hubei-MOST) and Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedicine Ministry of Education, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Zhang & Gang Zhou

  2. Department of Oral Medicine, School and Hospital of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Luoyu Road 237#, 430079, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Gang Zhou

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  1. Jing Zhang
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  2. Gang Zhou
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Correspondence to Gang Zhou.

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Responsible Editor: Michael Parnham.

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Zhang, J., Zhou, G. Green tea consumption: an alternative approach to managing oral lichen planus. Inflamm. Res. 61, 535–539 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00011-012-0440-z

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