Scientific Correspondence
Nature 387, 561 (5 June 1997) | doi:10.1038/42381
Why drinking green tea could prevent cancer
Jerzy Jankun1, Steven H. Selman1, Rafal Swiercz2 and Ewa Skrzypczak-Jankun3
Epidemiological studies suggest that the consumption of green tea may help prevent cancers in humans; also, breast and prostate cancers in animal models are reduced by green, but not black, tea1. Here we offer a possible explanation. We have inferred (using molecular modelling) and subsequently demonstrated that one of the major ingredients of green tea inhibits urokinase, an enzyme crucial for cancer growth.
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Department of Urology, Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, Ohio 3699-0008, USA
e-mail: Email: jerzy@golemxiv.dh.mco.edu -
Department of Physiology and Molecular Medicine,, Toledo, Ohio 3699-0008, USA
e-mail: Email: jerzy@golemxiv.dh.mco.edu - Department of Chemistry, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606-3390, USA