Therapeutic effect of green tea extract on cancer cells
Recent research by researchers shows that green tea extract is effective on living metastatic liver cancer cells and mesothelial malignancies derived from cancer patients.
A few years ago, researchers realized that the flexibility of cancer cells is one of the important factors in its spread.
When cancer cells invade other tissues (metastasis), they must enter the bloodstream and pass through very narrow spaces; For this reason, these cells are more flexible and softer than normal cells.
A team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) using nanomic atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study cancer cells taken from the body of a cancer patient nanomechanically have found that the softness and flexibility of these cells are 70% greater than It is normal.
We want to understand the cellular mechanics of cancer and use it to treat the disease, said Sarah Cross, a scientist at the California Institute of Nanosystems.
We are particularly interested in studying the effect of green tea extract (GTE) on cancer cells, as the anti-cancer effects of this drink have been reported on various cells.
However, the effect of GTE on normal or cancer cells taken from human samples has not yet been studied.
The UCLA research team, led by James Jimesfsky, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Gian Yurao, an assistant professor of pathology, has shown that green tea extract is effective on living metastatic liver cancer cells and mesothelial malignancies derived from cancer patients.
The team treated ten different samples of pleural effusions outside the body with GTE and studied their biomechanical properties using AFM.
In this study, the scientists arranged the individual cells optically under the tip of the AFM using light microscopy.
Using the software of this device, the AFM tip was placed in contact with the central region of each cell and the curves related to the flexibility of the cells (Young’s modulus) were drawn for each cell.
Measurements show that GTE increases the inflexibility or stiffness of metastatic cancer cells from 0.41 ± 0.18 kPa to 2.54 ± 1.47 kPa, Cross said.
These results show that GTE reduces the flexibility of cancer cells to that of normal, healthy cells, he said.
Interestingly, this extract has no effect on the flexibility of healthy cells, indicating its high selectivity for metastatic cancer cells.