Green tea compound boosts protein's tumour-suppressing activity.

ISLAMABAD -- Sipping green tea could be quite beneficial as researchers have found that a compound in the popular beverage may increase levels of a natural anti-cancer protein, known for its ability to repair DNA damage or destroy cancerous cells, said a new study.

The study of the direct interaction between the anti-cancer protein p53 and the green tea compound, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), published in the journal Nature Communications, points to a new target for cancer drug discovery, Medical daily reported .

'Both p53 and EGCG molecules are extremely interesting. Mutations in p53 are found in over 50 per cent of human cancer, while EGCG is the major antioxidant in green tea, a popular beverage worldwide,' said corresponding author Chunyu Wang, Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

'Now we find that there is a previously unknown, direct interaction between the two, which points to a new path for developing anti-cancer drugs. Our work helps to explain how EGCG is able to boost p53's anti-cancer activity, opening the door to developing drugs with EGCG-like compounds.'

The protein p53 has several well-known anti-cancer functions, including halting cell growth to allow for DNA repair, activating DNA repair, and initiating programmed cell death-called apoptosis-if DNA damage cannot be...