Green tea found effective for treating inflammatory skin disease

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia found that skin disorders such as psoriasis and dandruff could be treated with green tea. The researchers studied an animal model for inflammatory skin diseases and found that those animals treated with green tea showed slower growth of skin cells. The researchers observed that a chemical in the green tea suppressed inflammation by regulating the expression of Caspase-14, a protein in genes that regulates the life cycle of a skin cell. "That marker guides cells by telling them when to differentiate, die off and form a skin barrier," said Stephen Hsu, an oral biologist at the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry. "In people with psoriasis, that process is interrupted and the skin cells don’t die before more are created and the resulting lesions form."  The traditional treatment of ultraviolet light and medication is effective in controlling lesions, but may cause squamous cell carcinoma – the second most common form of skin cancer. So green tea treatment may prove to be a potential alternative.

Scientists from the U.S., France and Japan discovered what causes acne rosacea, a common inflammatory skin ailment that affects people over 30,  also known as adult acne. The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that that people with rosacea have high levels of the anti-microbial peptide cathelicidin in the skin, and the proteins that the cathelicidin produces are different than those produced by people without rosacea. An enzyme called stratum corneum tryptic enzyme (SCTE) is another contributor to rosacea. The scientists found that over-production of two inflammatory proteins leads to high levels of a third protein that causes rosacea symptoms. "It's like having lost of gasoline and a match," said Richard L. Gallo, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Dermatology, University of California. "Antibiotics tend to alleviate the symptoms of rosacea in patients because some of them work to inhibit these enzymes. Our findings may modify the therapeutic approach to treating rosacea, since bacteria aren't the right target."

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