Green tea and prostate cancer: from bench to clinic

Green tea, the most popular beverage next to water, is a rich source of tea catechins and has potential to be developed as a chemopreventive agent for prostate cancer. For centuries it has been used in traditional medicine in Far-East countries. Male populations in these countries where large quantities of green tea are consumed on regular basis have the lowest incidence of prostate cancer. In this review, after a description of prostate cancer and several risk factors associated with the disease, we evaluated studies reported with green tea or its major constituent, (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate in inhibition of prostate cancer. This review provides an in-depth overview of various biochemical and signaling pathways affected by green tea in in vivo and in vitro models of prostate cancer. This is followed by a comprehensive discussion of the epidemiological studies and some ongoing clinical trials with green tea catechins. The review concludes with a brief discussion of the future direction and development of clinical trials employing green tea catechins which could be developed for prevention and/or intervention of prostate cancer.