UCLA scientists have proven that Manuka, an unique honey selection, can quench estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer in vitro and in vivo [1].
Honey, kill that most cancers
Breast most cancers stays the deadliest kind of most cancers in ladies, claiming greater than 40 thousand victims a yr within the US alone. Of its subtypes, estrogen receptor (ER)-positive is the most typical, constituting 70-80% of all circumstances. Usually, ER-positive breast cancers have a greater prognosis as a result of they’re typically slower-growing and reply nicely to hormone remedy. That mentioned, it is determined by how early the most cancers was detected, and the recurrence charges over a number of years are excessive.
Though trendy oncology has made nice strides, most anti-cancer therapies are nonetheless blunt instruments that trigger huge uncomfortable side effects and even speed up growing old [2]. The seek for safer therapeutic choices continues, together with within the realm of pure merchandise. A number of of them, together with curcumin, resveratrol, and quercetin, have proven promise in opposition to most cancers, principally in tandem with established anti-cancer therapies [3]. Honey, nevertheless, has seldom been severely investigated.
Honey has a nasty rap as “simply sugar.” Nonetheless, a few of its varieties have been linked to plenty of well being advantages. Manuka honey is without doubt one of the most unique and costly ones, hailing from New Zealand and a few elements of Australia. It’s produced by bees that pollinate the flowers of the Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium).
Manuka honey is understood for its distinctive antibacterial properties. These are attributed primarily to the compound methylglyoxal (MGO), which can be a potent antioxidant. Different compounds ample in Manuka honey embody polyphenols and amino acids.
Current analysis signifies that manuka honey can induce dying by apoptosis in a number of most cancers cell traces and helps extend survival in some murine fashions of most cancers [4]. Potential mechanisms of motion embody selective estrogen receptor modulation and inhibition of development issue signaling pathways.
Dangerous for dangerous cells
On this new research carried out by UCLA scientists, Manuka honey and Manuka powder have been first utilized to cell traces of ER-positive breast most cancers, triple-negative breast most cancers (TNBC, a rarer however deadlier variant that lacks all three receptors frequent in breast most cancers), and wholesome mammary tissue cells.
Each honey and powder drastically decreased mobile proliferation within the ER-positive cells at excessive concentrations, however honey was additionally mildly efficient in TNBC cells. In one other experiment, Manuka honey was virtually as efficient in blocking proliferation as tamoxifen, the estrogen blocker broadly used in opposition to ER-positive breast most cancers. Nonetheless, Manuka honey was safer for non-malignant human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs). Importantly, the 2 therapies confirmed highly effective synergistic results. Most cancers cells develop resistance to tamoxifen reasonably rapidly, making Manuka honey’s unbiased effectiveness vital.
24 hours after treating ER-positive most cancers cells with Manuka honey, greater than 80% of them died by apoptosis. Right here too, the impact was dose-dependent. TNBC cells additionally skilled apoptosis, however to a lesser diploma. The researchers used a unique kind of honey as a management, and it didn’t produce any of Manuka honey’s results.
Along with inducing apoptosis, Manuka honey would possibly counter the expansion of most cancers cells by inhibiting the growth-promoting protein mTOR. In excessive concentrations, Manuka honey successfully elevated the degrees of AMPK, a protein that negatively modulates the mTOR pathway.
Tumor development blocked
The researchers then examined Manuka honey in a mouse mannequin of ER-positive breast most cancers. After the tumors grew to a measurement of 50-75 cm3, the mice began receiving orally both Manuka honey or dextrose as management, and the previous blocked tumor development virtually utterly.
“The findings present hope for improvement of a pure, much less poisonous different to conventional chemotherapy,” mentioned Dr. Diana Marquez-Garban, affiliate professor of drugs on the David Geffen Faculty of Medication at UCLA, and the research’s first creator. “Though extra analysis is critical to totally perceive the advantages of pure compounds in most cancers remedy, this research establishes a powerful basis for additional exploration on this space.”
Our findings affirm that MH has potent anticancer properties by means of totally different mechanisms. MH’s distinctive composition, together with phenolic compounds and methylglyoxal, has been reported to have antioxidant, antiseptic, and anticancer properties. MH inhibited in vitro cell proliferation of MCF7 cells in a dose-dependent method and induced apoptosis by means of PARP activation. Additional, MH activated AMPK and inhibited mTOR downstream signaling in addition to STAT3. Notably, orally administered MH inhibited the expansion of MCF7 tumor xenografts in vivo with out main uncomfortable side effects. These findings point out that pure compounds reminiscent of Manuka honey, with important antitumor exercise and selectivity in direction of hormone receptor-positive breast cancers, could also be additional developed as a complement or potential different to cytotoxic anticancer medication which have extra non-selective opposed results.
Literature
[1] Márquez-Garbán, D. C., Yanes, C. D., Llarena, G., Elashoff, D., Hamilton, N., Hardy, M., … & Pietras, R. J. (2024). Manuka Honey Inhibits Human Breast Most cancers Development in Preclinical Fashions. Vitamins, 16(14), 2369.
[2] Bhatia, R., Holtan, S., Jurdi, N. E., Prizment, A., & Blaes, A. (2022). Do most cancers and most cancers therapies speed up growing old?. Present oncology stories, 24(11), 1401-1412.
[3] Lotfi, N., Yousefi, Z., Golabi, M., Khalilian, P., Ghezelbash, B., Montazeri, M., … & Eskandari, N. (2023). The potential anti-cancer results of quercetin on blood, prostate and lung cancers: An replace. Frontiers in immunology, 14, 1077531.
[4] Ahmed, S., Sulaiman, S. A., & Othman, N. H. (2017). Oral Administration of Tualang and Manuka honeys modulates breast most cancers development in Sprague‐Dawley rats mannequin. Proof‐Primarily based Complementary and Various Medication, 2017(1), 5904361.
