Honey, Propolis, and Royal Jelly: A Comprehensive Review of Their Biological Actions and Health Benefits.

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Abstract

There are several health benefits that honeybee products such as honey, propolis, and royal jelly claim toward various types of diseases in addition to being food.

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Luteolin, a flavonoid with potential for cancer prevention and therapy.

Yong Wen Lin, Ranxin Shi, Xia Wang … (2008)

Luteolin, 3',4',5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone, is a common flavonoid that exists in many types of plants including fruits, vegetables, and medicinal herbs. Plants rich in luteolin have been used in Chinese traditional medicine for treating various diseases such as hypertension, inflammatory disorders, and cancer. Having multiple biological effects such as anti-inflammation, anti-allergy and anticancer, luteolin functions as either an antioxidant or a pro-oxidant biochemically. The biological effects of luteolin could be functionally related to each other. For instance, the anti-inflammatory activity may be linked to its anticancer property. Luteolin's anticancer property is associated with the induction of apoptosis, and inhibition of cell proliferation, metastasis and angiogenesis. Furthermore, luteolin sensitizes cancer cells to therapeutic-induced cytotoxicity through suppressing cell survival pathways such as phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase (PI3K)/Akt, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB), and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP), and stimulating apoptosis pathways including those that induce the tumor suppressor p53. These observations suggest that luteolin could be an anticancer agent for various cancers. Furthermore, recent epidemiological studies have attributed a cancer prevention property to luteolin. In this review, we summarize the progress of recent research on luteolin, with a particular focus on its anticancer role and molecular mechanisms underlying this property of luteolin.

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Recent Advances in the Chemical Composition of Propolis

Shuai Huang, Cui-Ping Zhang, Kai Wang … (2014)

Propolis is a honeybee product with broad clinical applications. Current literature describes that propolis is collected from plant resins. From a systematic database search, 241 compounds were identified in propolis for the first time between 2000 and 2012; and they belong to such diverse chemical classes as flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, terpenenes, stilbenes, lignans, coumarins, and their prenylated derivatives, showing a pattern consistent with around 300 previously reported compounds. The chemical characteristics of propolis are linked to the diversity of geographical location, plant sources and bee species.

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Royalactin induces queen differentiation in honeybees.

Masaki Kamakura (2011)

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) forms two female castes: the queen and the worker. This dimorphism depends not on genetic differences, but on ingestion of royal jelly, although the mechanism through which royal jelly regulates caste differentiation has long remained unknown. Here I show that a 57-kDa protein in royal jelly, previously designated as royalactin, induces the differentiation of honeybee larvae into queens. Royalactin increased body size and ovary development and shortened developmental time in honeybees. Surprisingly, it also showed similar effects in the fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster). Mechanistic studies revealed that royalactin activated p70 S6 kinase, which was responsible for the increase of body size, increased the activity of mitogen-activated protein kinase, which was involved in the decreased developmental time, and increased the titre of juvenile hormone, an essential hormone for ovary development. Knockdown of epidermal growth factor receptor (Egfr) expression in the fat body of honeybees and fruitflies resulted in a defect of all phenotypes induced by royalactin, showing that Egfr mediates these actions. These findings indicate that a specific factor in royal jelly, royalactin, drives queen development through an Egfr-mediated signalling pathway.