Comparative network pharmacology analysis of marker bioactive compounds from Greek monofloral honeys reveals potential anticancer-related mechanisms

Greek monofloral honeys constitute a rich source of phenolic compounds and bioactive metabolites with documented antioxidant and health-promoting properties. Among them, pine, heather and strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) honeys are characterized by distinct phytochemical profiles and considerable biological interest. The present study aimed to comparatively investigate the potential anticancer-related activity of three representative marker compounds associated with these honey varieties: taxifolin (pine honey), ellagic acid (heather honey) and arbutin (strawberry tree honey). An integrated in silico framework combining network pharmacology, bioinformatics and pharmacokinetic assessment was employed to identify molecular targets and characterize biologically relevant pathways. Computational target prediction, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, functional enrichment analysis and ADME profiling were applied to evaluate the biological relevance and pharmacological potential of the selected compounds. Functional enrichment analysis identified significant biological processes associated with the response to organic substances oxidative stress and superoxide metabolism. PPI network analysis identified GNB1 as the principal hub gene, while NQO1, SLC7A11, NOS3, LPAR1 and APOB emerged as key molecular targets involved in redox homeostasis, ferroptosis, GPCR-mediated signaling and cellular metabolism. Taxifolin was predicted to interact with APOB and the ferroptosis regulator SLC7A11, ellagic acid was associated with nucleotide metabolic pathways, whereas arbutin showed high predicted affinity for LPAR1, S1PR2 and TYR, suggesting complementary regulatory mechanisms. Among the investigated compounds, taxifolin and ellagic acid demonstrated the most favorable predicted bioactivity and pharmacokinetic characteristics, whereas arbutin appeared to exert complementary regulatory effects within the interaction network. Overall, these computational findings suggest that bioactive compounds from Greek monofloral honeys may influence multiple cancer-related molecular pathways through a multitarget mechanism. However, these predictions are based exclusively on in silico analyses and should be considered hypothesis-generating until confirmed by appropriate in vitro and in vivo studies.