Summary
Epidemiological observations indicate that Japanese male smokers are at a lower risk of the smoking-related lung cancer than male smokers in the United States. Dietary factors may contribute to the difference. We hypothesize that consumption of green tea containing the antioxidant polyphenols is protective against lung cancer. Our animal bioassay in A/J mice showed that mice administered the tobacco nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) developed significantly fewer lung tumors when given green tea or its major polyphenol epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) in drinking water than the NNK-treated mice that drank water. Caffeine given in drinking water also inhibited lung tumor formation in the NNK-treated mice, although the extent of inhibition was small. Studies showed that green tea and EGCG suppressed the formation of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a marker of oxidative DNA damage, in the lung DNA of mice treated with NNK. These results suggest that inhibition of lung tumorigenesis by green tea may be attributed to its antioxidant activity. Other prevalent tobacco and environmental carcinogens, such as benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), also induced 8-OHdG levels in the lung DNA of mice. These results provide a rationale for studying green tea as a potential inhibitor of lung tumorigenesis induced by BaP and NDMA.
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© 1997 Springer Japan
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Chung, FL., Xu, Y., Jin, CL., Wang, M. (1997). Tea as Antioxidant in Prevention of Lung Cancer. In: Ohigashi, H., Osawa, T., Terao, J., Watanabe, S., Yoshikawa, T. (eds) Food Factors for Cancer Prevention. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-67017-9_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-67017-9_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-67019-3
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