Green tea gets molecular.

Green tea and its major polyphenolic flavonoid, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), have been credited with cancer chemopreventive activity for many years; the mechanism for this activity, however, has remained obscure. Now, as reported in this issue of the journal (beginning on page 1366), Urusova and colleagues showed direct binding of EGCG to the peptidyl prolyl cis/trans isomerase Pin1, which inhibited Pin1 enzymatic activity. They showed that Pin1 expression is required for EGCG effects on cell growth, c-Jun activation, and transcription regulation mediated by NF-κB and activator protein-1. The data provide a glimpse of the mechanism of action of EGCG and set a new bar for the future study of natural products with chemopreventive activity.