J funct foods: Strawberry honey inhibits the proliferation of colon cancer cells

May 28, 2019 / BIOON / - Spanish and Italian researchers have proved that cell proliferation stops when honey from Strawberry trees, a typical Mediterranean product, is added to a colon cancer cell culture medium cultured in the laboratory The authors hope that these promising results and the antitumor potential of this food will be confirmed in vivo models Photo source: Honey extracted from Strawberry flowers by Journal of functional foods is famous for its sensory characteristics, especially its strong bitterness and dark color Now, scientists from the universities of Vigo and Granada in Spain and the University of technology in Marche, Italy, have analyzed the potential of this Mediterranean product against colon cancer Results, published in Journal of functional foods, showed that strawberry honey could inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells cultured in the laboratory, especially human colon adenocarcinoma (HCT-116) and another metastatic cancer (LoVo) "Honey therapy can prevent tumor cell cycle by regulating some genes (cyclin D1, CDK2, p27ki); it can inhibit cell migration, reduce the ability of colony formation and induce apoptosis or programmed cell death by regulating other key genes (p53, Caspase-3, c-parp) and various apoptosis factors It also inhibits EGFR / HER2 receptor and its signal pathway, which may be an attractive target in cancer treatment, because they play an important role in cell survival, proliferation, apoptosis and metastasis "The cytotoxic and antitumor effects of strawberry tree honey on colon cancer cell line increased with the increase of treatment time and dose This leads to other related results, such as the reduction of some transcription factors, the inhibition of some enzyme activities, the reduction of mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis of tumor cells "We observed these phenomena when honey was used in healthy cell lines "The authors point out that this natural product has the potential of anticancer, but a new study on the model of colon cancer in vivo is needed to confirm its chemopreventive effect "These data do not yet mean that strawberry honey can cure cancer "This work is a starting point, and we are trying to assess its possible biological and anticancer effects and the main molecular mechanisms for its effects, which will enhance interest in research and food production in the Mediterranean," battino added "This is new evidence that a healthy, balanced and natural diet can provide biologically active compounds that may have interesting effects on disease control and development," the researchers concluded (BIOON Com) reference: sadia Afrin et al Strawberry tree honey as a new potential functional food Part 1: strawberry tree honey reductions colon cancer cell promotion and colony formation capability, creatures cell cycle and promotions apoptosis by regulating EGFR and MAPKs signaling pathways, Journal of functional foods (2019) DOI： 10.1016/j.jff.2019.04.035