The Immunomodulatory Effects of Honey and Associated Flavonoids in Cancer

Abstract

Honey has exerted a high impact in the field of alternative medicine over many centuries. In addition to its wound healing, anti-microbial and antioxidant properties, several lines of evidence have highlighted the efficiency of honey and associated bioactive constituents as anti-tumor agents against a range of cancer types. Mechanistically, honey was shown to inhibit cancer cell growth through its pro-apoptotic, anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic effects. However, the potential of honey to regulate anti-tumor immune responses is relatively unexplored. A small number of in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the ability of honey to modulate the immune system by inducing immunostimulatory as well as anti-inflammatory effects. In the present review, we summarize the findings from different studies that aimed to investigate the immunomodulatory properties of honey and its flavonoid components in relation to cancer. While these studies provide promising data, additional research is needed to further elucidate the immunomodulatory properties of honey, and to enable its utilization as an adjuvant therapy in cancer.

Phytochemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Anticancer Activities of Sidr Honey: In Vitro and In Silico Computational Investigation

“…Studies revealed that honey may exhibit chemopreventive and therapeutic effects against several cancer forms. Several investigations highlight that honey may display anticancer potential involving different molecular mechanisms, such as cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, and activation of mitochondrial pathways, with immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effect [ 3 , 50 , 51 , 52 ]. ZH has been widely investigated for its healing properties, especially against microbial infectious diseases [ 53 ].…”

The Rediscovery of Honey for Skin Repair: Recent Advances in Mechanisms for Honey-Mediated Wound Healing and Scaffolded Application Techniques

“…However, despite the many hypotheses on the mechanisms for the numerous beneficial effects, honey's full potential has started to be unlocked only recently, with more comprehensive characterisations of its physicochemical composition (as described in Section 2 of this paper), and the further investigation of the medical activity of natural bioactive compounds also found in honey [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Honey has been shown to possess beneficial properties with diverse applications in otorhinolaryngology [16,17], respiratory tract diseases [18,19], cardiovascular diseases [20][21][22], metabolic disorders [23][24][25][26], oncology [27,28]. However, the focus of this review is on the use of honey in the management and treatment of skin disease and in particular wounds of various natures, exploring the possible mechanisms by which honey may enhance skin regeneration.…”

Identification and Quantification of Key Phytochemicals, Phytohormones, and Antioxidant Properties in Coccinia grandis during Fruit Ripening

“…Phenolic acids, which can be found in many plant species, are phenylpropanoids with an aromatic ring attached to a three-carbon side chain. Many biological activities, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antihepatotoxic, antiosteoporotic, antiulcer, immunomodulatory, and apoptotic activities, are attributed to phenolic acids [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. One class of phenolic acids—hydroxycinnamic acids—is greatly abundant in food and regarded to account for about one-third of dietary phenolic compounds [ 8 ].…”