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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2017

Open Access 01-12-2017 | Research article

Tea (Camellia sinensis) infusions ameliorate cancer in 4TI metastatic breast cancer model

Authors: Karori S. Mbuthia, Paul O. Mireji, Raphael M. Ngure, Francesca Stomeo, Martina Kyallo, Chalo Muoki, Francis N. Wachira

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2017

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Abstract

Background

Tea (Camellia sinensis) infusions are widely consumed beverages with numerous health benefits. However, physiological and molecular responses mediating these activities are poorly understood.

Method

Three replicates of 4TI cancer cell suspension (2.0 × 105 cells/ml) were challenged in vitro with various concentrations of green, black and purple tea infusions to asseses their cytoxicity and associated differentially expressed genes in the cells. Inhibitory activity was tested by using serial dilutions of respective tea infusions in a 96 well ELISA plate.

Results

Green tea had the highest inhibition on 4TI cells proliferation at a concentration of IC50 = 13.12 μg/ml. Further analysis of the 4TI cancer cell line treated with tea using 454 pyrosequencing generated 425,696 reads with an input mean length of 286.54. Trimmed sequences were imported on a CLC genomic workbench v7.03 and annotated on a reference mouse genome (Mus musculus strain C57BL/6 J). Results revealed a differential expression of apoptosis related genes in the transcriptome. Casp8, Casp9, Casp3, Casp6, Casp8AP2, Aifm1, Aifm2 and Apopt1 genes were significantly upregulated indicating the process of apoptosis was initiated and executed.

Conclusion

These findings on caspases offer valuable information on the mechanism of tea as an anticancer agent and will contribute to further research in future novel treatments.
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Metadata
Title
Tea (Camellia sinensis) infusions ameliorate cancer in 4TI metastatic breast cancer model
Authors
Karori S. Mbuthia
Paul O. Mireji
Raphael M. Ngure
Francesca Stomeo
Martina Kyallo
Chalo Muoki
Francis N. Wachira
Publication date
01-12-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2017
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-017-1683-6

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