Effect of Quercetin on Green Tea Polyphenol Uptake in Prostate Tissue From Patients With Prostate Cancer Undergoing Surgery

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To investigate the prostate tissue concentration of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and quercetin and their methylated metabolites in men scheduled for prostatectomy and consuming green tea (GT)extract (N=15) or GTextract with quercetin (N=15) for 3 weeks prior to prostatectomy. II. To determine the concentration of EGCG, ECG, epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin (EC) and quercetin and the methylated metabolites in plasma collected before (T=0) and two hours (T=2) after the intake of the morning dose of GTextract and placebo or GTextract with quercetin during the third week of intervention. III. To determine the effect of GTextract/quercetin intervention on reducing the enzyme activity and protein and gene expression of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and deoxyribonucleic (DNA) (cytosine-5) methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) as well as protein and gene expression of multidrug resistance transport protein 1 (MRP1) in prostate tissue collected in specific aim 1 and COMT activity in erythrocytes from blood collected at baseline and week 3. IV. To determine the inter-individual variation in genotype of COMT in buffy coat DNA. OUTLINE: Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. ARM I: Patients receive GT extract orally (PO) twice daily (BID) and quercetin PO BID for 3-6 weeks before undergoing prostatectomy. ARM II: Patients receive GT extract PO BID and placebo PO BID for 3-6 weeks before undergoing prostatectomy.