Revisiting the Gene Models of a Rodent Malaria Genome

Indianapolis, IN

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death associated with fatal malignancies world-wide with an estimated 1.59 million deaths. Treating this disease with chemotherapeutic agents has proven expensive and dangerous to the patient's health and well-being. As a result, alternative agents are being examined to create new, safer therapeutic drugs. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), stemming from the Camellia sinensis plant, is an active polyphenol belonging to the catechin class of green tea leaves. Previous studies have shown that EGCG treatment with 20 μM concentrations and higher induce cell death after two days of treatment in the human non-small cell lung adenocarcinoma cell line, NCI-H1793. To determine if cell death is due to activation of the apoptotic pathway, cells were treated with EGCG concentrations ranging from 40 μM to160 μM for 24 hours and protein levels of two apoptotic proteins, Bax and Bcl-2, were determined using immunoblot analysis. Preliminary results indicate that treatment with EGCG induces Bax concentrations with a concomitant decrease in Bcl-2. An increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio supports an active role for apoptosis in the antiproliferative effects of EGCG.