Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 May 11;64(18):3591-7.
doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b01115. Epub 2016 May 2.

Green Tea Catechin Metabolites Exert Immunoregulatory Effects on CD4(+) T Cell and Natural Killer Cell Activities

Yoon Hee Kim  1   2 , Yeong-Seon Won  1 , Xue Yang  1 , Motofumi Kumazoe  1 , Shuya Yamashita  1 , Aya Hara  3 , Akiko Takagaki  3 , Keiichi Goto  3 , Fumio Nanjo  3 , Hirofumi Tachibana  1
Affiliations

Green Tea Catechin Metabolites Exert Immunoregulatory Effects on CD4(+) T Cell and Natural Killer Cell Activities

Yoon Hee Kim et al. J Agric Food Chem. .

Abstract

Tea catechins, such as (-)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG), have been shown to effectively enhance immune activity and prevent cancer, although the underlying mechanism is unclear. Green tea catechins are instead converted to catechin metabolites in the intestine. Here, we show that these green tea catechin metabolites enhance CD4(+) T cell activity as well as natural killer (NK) cell activity. Our data suggest that the absence of a 4'-hydroxyl on this phenyl group (B ring) is important for the effect on immune activity. In particular, 5-(3',5'-dihydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone (EGC-M5), a major metabolite of EGCG, not only increased the activity of CD4(+) T cells but also enhanced the cytotoxic activity of NK cells in vivo. These data suggest that EGC-M5 might show immunostimulatory activity.

Keywords: 5-(3′,5′-dihydroxyphenyl)-γ-valerolactone; CD4+ T cells; EGCG; NK cell cytotoxicity; tea catechin metabolites.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources

-