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eCAM Advance Access published online on January 12, 2009
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nen086
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© 2009 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Jungle Honey Enhances Immune Function and Antitumor Activity

Miki Fukuda1, Kengo Kobayashi1, Yuriko Hirono1, Mayuko Miyagawa1, Takahiro Ishida1, Emenike C. Ejiogu2, Masaharu Sawai3, Kent E. Pinkerton4 and Minoru Takeuchi1

1Department of Biotechnology, Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto Japan, 2Origins Japan Co. Ltd, Nagano, Japan, 3Takara Shuzo Co. Ltd, Kyoto Japan and 4Center for Health and the Environment, University of California Davis, California, USA

Jungle honey (JH) is collected from timber and blossom by wild honey bees that live in the tropical forest of Nigeria. JH is used as a traditional medicine for colds, skin inflammation and burn wounds as well as general health care. However, the effects of JH on immune functions are not clearly known. Therefore, we investigated the effects of JH on immune functions and antitumor activity in mice. Female C57BL/6 mice were injected with JH (1 mg/mouse/day, seven times intra-peritoneal). After seven injections, peritoneal cells (PC) were obtained. Antitumor activity was assessed by growth of Lewis Lung Carcinoma/2 (LL/2) cells. PC numbers were increased in JH-injected mice compared to control mice. In Dot Plot analysis by FACS, a new cell population appeared in JH-injected mice. The percent of Gr-1 surface antigen and the intensity of Gr-1 antigen expression of PC were increased in JH-injected mice. The new cell population was neutrophils. JH possessed chemotactic activity for neutrophils. Tumor incidence and weight were decreased in JH-injected mice. The ratio of reactive oxygen species (ROS) producing cells was increased in JH-injected mice. The effective component in JH was fractionized by gel filtration using HPLC and had an approximate molecular weight (MW) of 261. These results suggest that neutrophils induced by JH possess potent antitumor activity mediated by ROS and the effective immune component of JH is substrate of MW 261.

Keywords: antitumor activity – chemotaxis – immune function – Jungle honey – neutrophil

For reprints and all correspondence: Minoru Takeuchi, Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto Sangyo University, Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto 603-8555, Japan. Tel/Fax: +8175-705-1926; E-mail: mtakex{at}cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp

Received June 16, 2008; accepted December 17, 2008


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