Apoptosis-inducing activity of a driselase digest fraction of green tea residue.

We enzymatically digested green tea residue with Driselase, a crude preparation containing cellulase, pectinase and proteases, in order to examine the potential usefulness of the residue. A fraction of the digest soluble in 70% ethanol was found to induce the death of U937 human histiocytic lymphoma cells by apoptosis. Other enzyme preparations gave similar products with cell death-inducing activity of varing potency. The green tea residue may therefore be a useful source of potential agents with anti-cancer activity.