Green tea consumption, inflammation and the risk of primary hepatocellular carcinoma in a Chinese population
Cancer Epidemiology, 07/26/2011

Li Y et al. – Green tea consumption may protect against development of primary HCC. Potential effect modifications of green tea on associations between primary HCC and alcohol drinking, HBV/HCV infection, and inflammation-related SNPs were suggested.

• A population-based case-control study with 204 primary HCC cases and 415 healthy controls was conducted in Taixing, China
• Epidemiological data were collected using a standard questionnaire. SNPs of genes of the inflammation and metabolic pathways were genotyped at the UCLA Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory
• Logistic regression was performed to estimate adjusted OR and 95% CI

• Longer duration and larger quantities of green tea consumption were inversely associated with primary HCC
• Individuals who drank green tea longer than 30 years were at lowest risk (adjusted OR=0.44, 95% CI: 0.19–0.96) compared with non-drinkers
• Strong interaction was observed between green tea drinking and alcohol consumption (adjusted OR for interaction=3.40, 95% CI: 1.26–9.16)
• Green tea drinking was also observed to have a potential effect modification on HBV/HCV infection, smoking and polymorphisms of inflammation related cytokines, especially for IL-10