Manuka honey has been recognized for its anti-bacterial and
wound-healing activity but its potential antitumor effect is poorly studied
despite the fact that it contains many antioxidant compounds.
In this study, we investigated the antiproliferative
activity of manuka honey on three different cancer cell lines, murine melanoma
(B16.F1) and colorectal carcinoma (CT26) as well as human breast cancer (MCF-7)
cells in vitro.
The data demonstrate that manuka honey has potent
anti-proliferative effect on all three cancer cell lines in a time- and
dose-dependent manner, being effective at concentrations as low as 0.6% (w/v).
This effect is mediated via the activation of a caspase 9-dependent apoptotic
pathway, leading to the induction of caspase 3, reduced Bcl-2 expression, DNA
fragmentation and cell death. Combination treatment of cancer cells with manuka
and paclitaxel in vitro, however, revealed no evidence of a synergistic action
on cancer cell proliferation. Furthermore, we utilized an in vivo syngeneic
mouse melanoma model to assess the potential effect of
intravenously-administered manuka honey, alone or in combination with
paclitaxel, on the growth of established tumors.
Our findings indicate that systemic administration of manuka
honey was not associated with any alterations in haematological or clinical
chemistry values in serum of treated mice, demonstrating its safety profile.
Treatment with manuka honey alone resulted in about 33%
inhibition of tumor growth, which correlated with histologically observable
increase in tumor apoptosis. Although better control of tumor growth was
observed in animals treated with paclitaxel alone or in combination with manuka
honey (61% inhibition), a dramatic improvement in host survival was seen in the
co-treatment group.
This highlights a potentially novel role for manuka honey in
alleviating chemotherapy-induced toxicity.
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