| | | |

Benefits of Propolis: Could Bee Product Help Fight Mesothelioma?

ByAlex Strauss
Benefits of Propolis

A new review of the potential benefits of propolis suggests that this antioxidant-rich bee product might be a worthwhile addition to the fight against mesothelioma. 

Bees produce propolis from the sap of evergreens. The research on this supplement is limited. There has never been a study on propolis and mesothelioma. 

But a new Taiwanese review concludes that there is enough evidence on the benefits of propolis in several other types of cancer to warrant further study. 

What is Propolis?

Propolis is a sticky resin that bees produce to help protect their hives. It is made up of a combination of evergreen sap, bee saliva, and beeswax. Bees coat their hives with it.

Many ancient civilizations believed in the health benefits of propolis. Among other things, the bee product seems to have antifungal, antibacterial, and regenerative properties. According to a Healthline article, Greeks and Assyrians used propolis on wounds. Other ancient people took propolis internally to treat illnesses.

Modern science is just beginning to understand the potential benefits of propolis. A 2015 article in Burns & Trauma suggests that it can help heal burns. Another study from 2014 highlighted it’s cancer-fighting properties. 

Like fruits and vegetables, propolis contains an array of polyphenols. Polyphenols reduce inflammation and boost the immune system. Inflammation and compromised immunity may contribute to the spread of mesothelioma and other types of cancer. 

Review of the Benefits of Propolis

The new review of propolis was led by the Department of Chinese Medicine at the Taichung Hospital Ministry of Health and Well-being in Taiwan. 

Researchers found studies on the benefits of propolis for people with various kinds of cancer. Lung cancer was among the cancers studied. Pleural mesothelioma and lung cancer share many characteristics and are treated similarly. 

The review summarized the cancer-fighting and cancer-preventing benefits of propolis from other studies. The summary includes a range of effects that might help patients with mesothelioma and other rare cancers. Some of the functions of propolis discovered include:

  • pro-apoptotic (prompts natural cell death)
  • cytotoxic (kills cancer cells)
  • anti-proliferative (prevents cell division) 
  • anti-metastatic (prevents cancer from spreading)
  • anti-invasive (prevents cancer from invading tissue)
  • anti-angiogenic (prevents development of tumor blood supply)
  • anti-genotoxic (protects corruption of genetic information)
  • antioxidant (fights destructive free radicals)
  • immunomodulatory (helps the immune system fight cancer)
  • Anti-inflammatory

There is no cure for mesothelioma. Standard cancer treatments are only moderately effective. The findings on the benefits of propolis suggest that it deserves further study as a supplement to cancer treatment.

“Propolis could be used as an adjuvant for treating various cancers along with standard chemotherapeutic drugs,” writes lead author Hui-Fang Chiu. “However, many large-scale clinical studies are needed to justify such applications.”

Source:

Chiu, HF, et al, “Chemopreventive and Chemotherapeutic Effect of Propolis and Its Constituents: A Mini-review”, June 30, 2020, Journal of Cancer Prevention, http://www.jcpjournal.org/journal/view.html?doi=10.15430/JCP.2020.25.2.70

Xuan, H, “Antitumor Activity of Chinese Propolis in Human Breast Cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Cells”, May 22, 2014, https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/280120/

Goldman, R, ” The Benefits and Uses of Propolis”, September 28, 2018, Healthline, https://www.healthline.com/health/propolis-an-ancient-healer

Martinotti, S, “Propolis: a new frontier for wound healing?”, July 22, 2015, Burns & Trauma, https://burnstrauma.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41038-015-0010-z

Propolis, WebMD, https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-390/propolis

Similar Posts

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland
|

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland

ByAlex Strauss

A study in Ireland confirms that it can take many years for a ban on asbestos to have a measurable impact on a country’s rates of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a list of diseases – including lung cancer, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and others – linked with exposure to asbestos dust. Affecting the linings around the lungs and other organs, mesothelioma is often resistant to most cancer treatments and may be fatal within a year of diagnosis. According to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, Ireland is one of 55 countries that have enacted some type of asbestos ban. However, although Ireland banned asbestos in 2000, a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology shows that incidence of the…

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma
|

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Australia’s Cancer Council is trying to educate home renovators about their risk for mesothelioma with a new e-learning course. Australia has one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma in the world, largely because of several asbestos mining operations that were once located there. Although asbestos has been banned from building products in Australia since 1989, asbestos-linked diseases like mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis continue to pose a serious health concern. While mesothelioma has traditionally occurred among people exposed to asbestos on the job, Australia is now bracing for another “wave” of mesothelioma victims among homeowners who encounter asbestos while doing their own renovation projects. Cancer Council Australia has launched “kNOw asbestos in your home” in an effort to…

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab
|

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab

ByAlex Strauss

A virus that causes leukemia in gibbon apes may have the power to help fight malignant mesothelioma in people. Gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) has been tested for years as a viral vector, a carrier of therapeutic genetic information, in the treatment of various human illnesses, including cancer. A new study in Japan compared GALV with a leukemia virus derived from mice to see which carrier communicated most efficiently with mesothelioma cells. While both types of viruses replicated in most of the mesothelioma cell lines tested, the mouse-derived virus was not effective in a mesothelioma cell line called ACC-MESO-1. In this cell line, only the GALV spread efficiently both in culture and in mice that had been given human mesothelioma…

Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia
| | |

Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia

ByAlex Strauss

Australia is bracing for an expected new wave of mesothelioma cases in the next decade and the Lung Foundation of Australia is taking action now to get ready. The Foundation has paid for ten nurses from around the country to receive specialized training in helping patients and families cope with mesothelioma. The nurses, who have recently completed the training, are now equipped to lead treatment planning for these complex cancer patients and to help other nurses do the same. Pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that occurs in the lining around the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos dust, a toxin that was once alarmingly prevalent in Australia where it was mined and heavily used in construction. Because…

Spanish Mesothelioma Deaths Likely to Continue for Decades
| |

Spanish Mesothelioma Deaths Likely to Continue for Decades

ByAlex Strauss

New research in Spain suggests that mesothelioma deaths will continue in the country until the “last surviving member” of the group of people exposed to occupational asbestos succumbs to the disease. Like many countries, Spain used asbestos heavily in the first half of the 20th century, especially in construction, where the mineral was prized for its durability, low cost, and resistance to fire and corrosion.  Asbestos was banned in Spain in 2002. Observing that more than 2.5 million metric tons of asbestos were imported into Spain from 1906 to 2002, researchers say deaths from mesothelioma have risen steadily. Between 1976 and 1980, a total of 491 Spanish people died of mesothelioma. By the 5-year period from 2006 to 2010, that…

Micro-RNAs May Offer New Way to Fight Mesothelioma
| |

Micro-RNAs May Offer New Way to Fight Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Scientists at one of the world’s top mesothelioma research centers, the Asbestos Diseases Research institute in Sydney, Australia, say that restoring the expression of certain micro RNAs in the cells of mesothelioma patients may offer a new way to fight the disease. A microRNA is a small RNA molecule which is involved in the regulation of gene expression. According to a new report in the Annals of Oncology, the Australian scientists found reduced expression of the micro RNA-15 family (miR-15/16) in the cells of mice with mesothelioma. “When malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines were compared with the normal mesothelial cell line MeT-5A, the downregulation of miR-15/16 was 2- to 10-fold,” they report. This finding is consistent with previous cancer research…