Royal jelly (RJ) is natural bee product highly appreciated in human nutrition because of its abundance in bioactive substance and is also named a super-food. It has been used in alternative medicine for centuries, and many studies have reported its therapeutic properties, including its anticancer activity. However, the greatest problem in standard cancer therapy is the migration of cancer cells, which leads to metastasis and the formation of secondary tumors, followed by lethal outcomes. Cancer cells acquire a migratory capacity through epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), regulated partially by an aberrant activated Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway. The main component of this signaling, the transcription factor β-catenin, controls the expression of many other cellular components with a significant role in the motility of cells.
In this study, SW-480 cells, originating from stage II colorectal carcinoma (CRC), were purchased from American Type Culture Collection and cultured according to the standard culturing procedure, and when 90% confluence was reached, the cells were treated with RJ sampled from Serbia at two selected concentrations (10 and 100 μg/mL). After 24 h, the motility of the cells was examined by using a wound healing (scratch) assay, while the protein expression of β-catenin was measured with the use of the immunofluorescent method.
According to our results, RJ significantly suppressed the SW-480 cells' motility, where at the higher RJ concentration (100 μg/mL), this was more effective. Additionally, a prominent reduction in β-catenin protein expression was also observed in these cells after 24 h of treatment.
Our findings highlight the valuable effects of RJ in the regulation of CRC cells' motility via the modulation of β-catenin, a prominent CRC marker, thus reducing the aggressiveness of this disease. This study reveals, for the first time, the antimigratory potential of this widely used food supplement exerted on colorectal cancer, and its significant anticancer potential should not be neglected in further research.
