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Many take green tea just to bring down the weight; researchers are saying that along with this feature may help in killing oral cancer cells, without touching the healthy cells.

Green tea consists of an ingredient, which can attack the cancer cells without harming the healthy are important functioning of the body.

Associate professor Joshua Lambert at Penn State said that earlier studies had shown that epigallocatechin-3-gallate EGCG,  a compound found in green tea, killed oral cancer cells without harming normal cells, but researchers have not understand the specialty of the material, for its ability to target the cancer cells. The current study shows that EGCG may trigger a process in the mitochondria that leads to cell death.

The major polyphenol found in green tea, at concentrations typically found in the saliva after chewing green-tea chewing gum. The researchers would collect the cells and check for oxidative stress and signs of antioxidant response.

The researchers said that a protein called sirtuin 3, shortly SIRT3, was critical to the process of targeting the harmful cells, so the idea that EGCG might selectively affect the activity of sirtuin 3 in cancer cells to turn it off, while in normal cells to turn it on, and that was probably applicable in multiple kinds of cancers, Lambert said.

The study builds on earlier research on how EGCG affected oral cancer. He said the next step would be to study the mechanism in animals. If those tests and human trials remain successful, the researchers can hopefully develop anti-cancer treatments that are as effective as current treatments without the harmful side effects.

Lambert said that chemotherapy drugs and techniques just target rapidly to divide cells, so cancer divides rapidly, but similar action causes the cells in hair follicles and cells in intestines, which leads to a lot of side-effects. But green tea consumption didn't have such side effects.

The study is published in the online issue of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. If complete output for treating the Oral Cancer is possible with Green tea, then millions of patients will be benefitted with long life.

-Kannamsai