More tea for septic patients? Green tea may reduce endotoxin-induced release of high mobility group box 1 and other pro-inflammatory cytokines

Despite recent advances in antibiotic therapy and intensive care, sepsis remains widespread problems in critically M patients. The high mortality of sepsis is in part mediated by bacterial endotoxin, which stimulates macrophages/monocytes, to sequentially release early (e.g., TNF, IL-1, and IFN-gamma) and late (e.g., HMGB1) pro-inflammatory cytokines. In light of our recent discovery of HMGB1 as a late mediator of lethal systemic inflammation, and the observation that green tea (Camellia sinensis) dose-dependently attenuated bacterial endotoxin-induced HMGB1 release, we propose that regular tea intake might decrease the incidence of and mortality rates from lethal endotoxemia and sepsis. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.