A Review on Antiproliferative and Apoptotic Activities of Natural Honey

Abstract

Recent statistics revealed that cancer is one among the main reasons for death throughout the world. Several treatments are available but still there is no cure when it is detected at late stages. One of the treatment modes for cancer is chemotherapy which utilizes anticancer drugs in order to eradicate the cancer cells by apoptosis. Apoptosis is a programmed cell death through which body maintains homeostasis or kills cancer cells by utilizing its cell machinery. Recent researches have concluded that dietary agents have a putative role in instituting apoptosis of cancer cells. Honey, one of the victuals rich in antioxidants, has a long-standing exposure to humans and its role in cancer prevention and treatment is a topic of current interest. Various researchers have been experimenting honey against different cancers and provided valuable insights about the apoptosis induced by the honey. This review will highlight the recent findings of apoptotic mechanism involved in different cancer cells. Further it also reports antitumor activity of honey in some animal models. Hence it is high-time to initiate more preclinical trials as well as clinical experiments which would further add to the knowledge of anticancer nature of honey and also endorse honey as a potential candidate in the war against cancer.

Strawberry-Tree Honey Induces Growth Inhibition of Human Colon Cancer Cells and Increases ROS Generation: A Comparison with Manuka Honey

“…In both cell lines, the treatment with STH caused a greater decrease on cellular viability at lower concentrations than MH. To evaluate the anti-proliferative effect of honey on colon cancer cell line, it was necessary to use different concentrations, most likely due to variations in honey content, particularly in polyphenols and antioxidant activities [6,7,47]. …”

“…Natural compounds have the potential to treat for colorectal cancer by inducing the cytotoxic effect on colon cancer cells while they are less toxic to normal colonic epithelial cells [4,5]. Honey is a good source of biological or pharmacological compounds with antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive, hypoglycemic, anti-proliferative, anticancer and anti-metastatic activities [6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. In this case, it has to be taken into consideration that the bioactive compounds of honey are rather variable, and depend not only on the honey’s floral sources, but also on the geographical origins, as well as on seasonal and environmental factors which may be accountable for the detected variations.…”

Honey and Cancer: Current Status and Future Directions

“…Among the ones published within the last two years, a review by Jagnathan et al [27] focused only on the antiproliferative and apoptotic potential of honey. A second review from the same laboratory discussed, in depth, the anticancer potential of honey and of its constituents against colon cancer only [28].…”

Can Nigella Sativa and Pure Honey Improved Chemoradiotherapy Effects in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer

“…The antioxidant, immunmodulative and anti-inflammatory action of honey and related to its phenolic constituents was showed in many studies [31][32][33][34][35][36]. Ellagic acid, gallic acid, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, kaempferol, catechin, quercetin, luteolin, are some fenolic compaunds of honey [36].…”