title: Principles of Biomedical Agriculture Applied to the Plant Family Theaceae To Identify Novel Interventions for Cancer Prevention and Control.
abstract: Plant materials from the family Theaceae have been used for over a thousand years as integral components within the food systems of many globally distributed cultures and to treat a variety of human ailments. These markedly different uses remain of considerable interest in the 21st century. This perspective draws heavily from the agricultural and biomedical literature published using plant materials from the genus Camellia. Our objective is to provide a rationale and framework for broadening the scope of investigation of genera and species within Theaceae beyond Camellia sinensis to accelerate the development of a new generation of Theaceae-based pharmaceuticals/nutraceuticals and the more general enhancement of the food supply with Theaceae-containing products that affect the development of chronic diseases such as cancer. This will require a concerted effort to systematically capitalize on the rapidly growing knowledge of germplasm resources within Theaceae using metabolomic profiling in combination with in vivo and in vitro approaches. The successful translation of this research into products that affect human health will be facilitated by recognition of the agronomic factors that are critical in making hot water infusions generically referred to as tea as well as food products containing ground leaf powders.
authors.affiliation: International Center on Tea for Human Health, A Joint Research Program, Anhui Agricultural University , Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yijun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: International Center on Tea for Human Health, A Joint Research Program, Anhui Agricultural University , Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yunqiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: International Center on Tea for Human Health, A Joint Research Program, Anhui Agricultural University , Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chaoling
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: International Center on Tea for Human Health, A Joint Research Program, Anhui Agricultural University , Hefei, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaochun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention Laboratory, Colorado State University , Fort Collins, Colorado, United States.
authors.forename: Henry J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D028242:Theaceae / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts
keywords: Theaceae; agriculture; biomedical; cancer; human health