New research revealed in a recent article in the Journal of Biological Chemistry demonstrates that some compounds in green tea possess powerful properties that may hold great potential in developing treatments for two types of tumors as well as a congenital disease.
The research centered on glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), one of the enzymes responsible for the breakdown of amino acids, the loss of which in some patients suffering from a congenital disease called hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia (HHS) leads to severe hypoglycemia and often death.
Dr. Thomas Smith, Principal Investigator at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, who completed the research with several of his colleagues from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was able to show that when administered orally, two compounds in green tea inhibit the enzyme by binding to it and thus compensate for this genetic disorder.
Notably, two other research groups have been able to demonstrate that blocking GDH with green tea is also highly effective at killing two types of tumors.