Green tea and Vardenafil: a killer chemotherapy combo

Several recent studies have demonstrated that EGCG, a major constituent of green tea, has anti-cancer properties, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its effects are unknown.

In the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Hirofumi Tachibana and colleagues at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, demonstrate that EGCG activates the 67-kDa laminin receptor, which elevates intracellular levels of the molecule cGMP to induce cell death.

Tachibana and colleagues combined EGCG with vardenafil, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, which blocks the activity of PDE5, a protein that degrades cGMP.

In a mouse model of multiple myeloma, vardenafil potentiated the effects of EGCG to mediate cancer cell death. Chung Yan and Hong Wang of Rutgers University discuss these findings in a companion commentary.

TITLE: 67-kDa laminin receptor increases cGMP to induce cancer-selective apoptosis

ACCOMPANYING COMMENTARY: Cancer therapy combination: Green tea and a phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor?