Tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate associates with plasma membrane lipid rafts: Lipid rafts mediate anti-allergic action of the catechin

Issue title: The Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Food Factors (ICoFF 03)

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Tachibana, Hirofumi | Fujimura, Yoshinori | Yamada, Koji

Affiliations: Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan. E-mail: [email protected]

Note: [] Corresponding author

Abstract: High-affinity IgE receptor FcεRI is key molecule in the IgE-mediated allergic reactions. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has a suppressive effect of the expression of the FcεRI. We show here that EGCG highly associates with plasma membrane microdomains, lipid rafts. The disruption of these lipid rafts caused a reduction of the amount of raft-associated EGCG and the FcεRI -suppressive effect of EGCG. These results suggest that the interaction between EGCG and the lipid rafts is important for EGCG's ability to downregulate FcεRI expression.

Keywords: EGCG, lipid rafts, tea, cell membrane, binding, FcεRI, allergy

Journal: BioFactors, vol. 21, no. 1-4, pp. 383-385, 2004