Tea lover's rejoice. According to a latest study, nanoparticles derived from tea leaves may inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells and could destroy up to 80 percent of them. The study that was published in the journal Applied Nano Materials, revealed the potential of a type of nanoparticle called quantum dots, that could be produced using tea leaves.
"Our research confirmed previous evidence that tea leaf extract can be a non-toxic alternative to making quantum dots using chemicals," said Sudhagar Pitchaimuthu from Swansea University in the UK, who led the study.
"The real surprise, however, was that the dots actively inhibited the growth of the lung cancer cells. We had not been expecting this," Pitchaimuthu said.
Scientists said that quantum dots can be made chemically, but it must be noted that the process is complicated and expensive, in addition to that, they may also have a certain toxic effects. This is why the researchers believe that their novel findings may prove to be an important intervention in the treatment of lung cancer.
The team, including researchers from KS Rangasamy College of Technology and Bharathiar University in Tamil Nadu, explored a non-toxic plant-based alternative method of producing the dots, using tea leaf extract.
The health benefits of tea leaves have been widely known. Tea leaves contain a wide variety of compounds, including polyphenols, amino acids, vitamins and antioxidants, which come in handy for a healing a variety of conditions like cold, cough and flu.
For the study, the researchers mixed tea leaf extract with cadmium sulphate (CdSO4) and sodium sulphide (Na2S) and allowed the solution to incubate, a process which causes quantum dots to form. They then applied the dots to lung cancer cells.
The findings revealed that tea leaves are a simpler, cheaper and less toxic method of producing quantum dots, compared with using chemicals, confirming the results of other research in the field.
Quantum dots produced from tea leaves were found to inhibit the growth of lung cancer cells.The team penetrated into the nanopores of the cancer cells and destroyed up to 80 per cent of them.
The CdS quantum dots derived from tea leaf extract showed exceptional fluorescence emission in cancer cell bioimaging compared to conventional CdS nanoparticles.
The researchers believe that quantum dots are a very promising avenue to explore for developing new cancer treatments, and must be explored well.
(With Inputs PTI)