Particular interest in oncology presents motility of cancer cells and the existence of two main types of migration, collective and individual largely dependent on parameters of intercellular connections, E-cadherin and β-catenin. However, the switch between these two types of migration greatly complicates this disease and add further complexity to therapeutic approaches. A unique and specific component of bee product royal jelly is 10HDA unsaturated fatty acid, with unknown effects on migration of colorectal carcinoma cells and the exact molecular mechanism so far.

Therefore, this study assessed the collective migratory capacity of HCT-116 colorectal carcinoma cells by using Wound healing method, 24 h after treatment with 10H2DA in two selected concentrations (10 and 100 μM). Additionally, the protein expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin was monitored by applying immunofluorescent assay.

Our study highlights the prominent dose-dependent antimigratory effects of 10H2DA on HCT-116 cells, which is obviously due to the significant inhibition of two tested membrane markers, E-cadherin and β-catenin. The suppression of these two components of intercellular junction complexes and HCT-116 cells’ motility is obviously in tight association, implying their importance in CRC cells aggressiveness.

Overall, 10H2DA is valuable source of anticancer potential worth of further investigation on CRC, especially regarding cell motility in association with aforementioned adhesion molecules.