Advances on the Interaction between Tea Catechins and Plasma Proteins: Structure- Affinity Relationship, Influence on Antioxidant Activity, and Molecular Docking Aspects

Tea materials are widely consumed beverages in the world and are a rich source of dietary polyphenols. Catechins found in tea show excellent antioxidant potential, which is beneficial for many diseases such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases. These Tea catechins can interact with plasma proteins to form soluble or insoluble complexes, which are responsible for their bioactivities in vivo. However, there is little review published recently which focused on tea catechins-plasma protein interaction (TcPI), despite numerous articles have appeared in this field. This review summarizes the recent trend in TcPI studies focusing on metabolism, structure-affinity relationship, influence on antioxidant activity, and molecular docking aspects.