Oral / Head & Neck Cancer

EGCG is the main green tea catechin, and oral or head-and-neck cancers are especially interesting because local mucosal exposure is possible in addition to systemic use.

Overview

This literature includes oral leukoplakia work, local topical relevance, and strong preclinical data on invasion, apoptosis, and MMP-related signalling.

Key human data

• Topical EGCG has shown clinically relevant reduction in lesion size in oral leukoplakia studies

• Epidemiology supports a modest protective association with green tea intake in oral-cancer contexts

Key preclinical data

• EGCG inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in oral cancer models

• Suppresses MMP-2 and invasion-related pathways

• Inhibits hepatocyte growth factor and Met-related signalling in aggressive models

• Combination interest with erlotinib has also been reported

Clinical positioning

This is a rational adjunctive setting for EGCG because direct topical or local exposure may be biologically relevant in a way that is harder to achieve for deeper tumours.

References

Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate Therapeutic Potential in Cancer: Mechanism of Action and Clinical Implications
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10343677/

Dietary EGCG: State-of-the-Art in Anticancer Research
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12844721/