Extraordinary anticancer effect of green tea and red light.
OBJECTIVE
Increasing observational evidence suggests that epigallocatechin gallate--the major polyphenolic component of green tea--is instrumental in suppressing the growth of cancer cells. Therefore, methods that promise to enhance the suppressive potential of green tea have the highest clinical relevance.


BACKGROUND
Human cervical cancer cells, HeLa, the first continuous cancer cell line, represent a mainstay model in cancer research. Green tea inhibited their growth, whereas their exposure to moderate levels of laser light resulted in an opposite effect. Both effects are individually documented in the literature.


METHODS
HeLa cells were supplemented with green tea, irradiated with moderately intense laser light (670 nm) for 1 min, and incubated for 52 h.


RESULTS
We found an extraordinary inhibition of HeLa cells by a combination of green tea and red light. We achieved an inhibition of 1,460%, compared with non-irradiated samples.


CONCLUSIONS
Our result receives clinical relevance from a recent study in which epigallocatechin gallate suppressed the growth of melanoma in vivo.
Sommer
Andrei P
AP
Institute of Micro and Nanomaterials, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. andrei.sommer@uni-ulm.de
Zhu
Dan
D
Scharnweber
Tim
T
D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002392:Catechin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy
D016588:Anticarcinogenic Agents; D002392:Catechin; C045651:epigallocatechin gallate