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

  • J Agric Food Chem. 2016 May 11;64(18):3591-7. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b01115.
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
  • 1. Division of Applied Biological Chemistry, Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University , 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
  • 2. Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Engineering, Daegu University , Gyeongsan 712-714, Korea.
  • 3. Food Research Laboratories, Mitsui Norin Company, Limited , 223-1 Miyabara, Fujieda-shi, Shizuoka 426-0133, Japan.
PMID: 27112424 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.6b01115
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.
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