Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Aug 20;14(3):1109-1129.
doi: 10.3390/jox14030063.

The Therapeutic Mechanisms of Honey in Mitigating Toxicity from Anticancer Chemotherapy Toxicity: A Review

Debalina Bose  1 , Ademola C Famurewa  2   3 , Aman Akash  4 , Eman M Othman  4   5   6
Affiliations
Review

The Therapeutic Mechanisms of Honey in Mitigating Toxicity from Anticancer Chemotherapy Toxicity: A Review

Debalina Bose et al. J Xenobiot. .

Abstract

Within the domain of conventional oncochemotherapeutics, anticancer chemotherapy (AC) has emerged as a potent strategy for the treatment of cancers. AC is the mainstay strategy for solid and non-solid cancer treatment. Its mechanistic action targets the blockage of DNA transcription and the dysregulation of cell cycle machinery in cancer cells, leading to the activation of death pathways. However, the attendant side effect of toxicity inflicted by AC on healthy tissues presents a formidable challenge. The crucial culprit in the AC side effect of toxicity is unknown, although oxidative stress, mitochondrial impairment, inflammatory cascades, autophagy dysregulation, apoptosis, and certain aberrant signaling have been implicated. Honey is a natural bee product with significant health benefits and pharmacological properties. Interestingly, the literature reports that honey may proffer a protection mechanism for delicate tissue/organs against the side effect of toxicity from AC. Thus, this review delves into the prospective role of honey as an alleviator of the AC side effect of toxicity; it provides an elucidation of the mechanisms of AC toxicity and honey's molecular mechanisms of mitigation. The review endeavors to unravel the specific molecular cascades by which honey orchestrates its mitigating effects, with the overarching objective of refining its application as an adjuvant natural product. Honey supplementation prevents AC toxicity via the inhibition of oxidative stress, NF-κB-mediated inflammation, and caspase-dependent apoptosis cascades. Although there is a need for increased mechanistic studies, honey is a natural product that could mitigate the various toxicities induced by AC.

Keywords: adjuvant therapy; chemotherapy toxicity; honey; mitigation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diverse range of toxicities induced by AC drugs [22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bioactive compounds in natural honey and their biological benefits.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pharmacological properties of honey.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Honey and its therapeutic effect on anticancer chemotherapy-induced toxicity [22,23,24,25].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Anand U., Dey A., Chandel A.K.S., Sanyal R., Mishra A., Pandey D.K., De Falco V., Upadhyay A., Kandimalla R., Chaudhary A., et al. Cancer chemotherapy and beyond: Current status, drug candidates, associated risks and progress in targeted therapeutics. Genes Dis. 2023;10:1367–1401. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2022.02.007. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Famurewa A.C., Mukherjee A.G., Wanjari U.R., Sukumar A., Murali R., Renu K., Vellingiri B., Dey A., Gopalakrishnan A.V. Repurposing FDA-approved drugs against the toxicity of platinum-based anticancer drugs. Life Sci. 2022;305:120789. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120789. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gui Y., Famurewa A.C., Olatunji O.J. Naringin ameliorates 5-fluorouracil induced cardiotoxicity: An insight into its modulatory impact on oxidative stress, inflammatory and apoptotic parameters. Tissue Cell. 2023;81:102035. doi: 10.1016/j.tice.2023.102035. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Famurewa A.C., Aja P.M., Maduagwuna E.K., Ekeleme-Egedigwe C.A., Ufebe O.G., Azubuike-Osu S.O. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of virgin coconut oil supplementation abrogate acute chemotherapy oxidative nephrotoxicity induced by anticancer drug methotrexate in rats. Biomed. Pharmacother. 2017;96:905–911. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2017.12.008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zhou P., Wang Z., Chen C., Famurewa A.C., Olatunji O.J. Naringin ameliorates 5-fluorouracil elicited neurotoxicity by curtailing oxidative stress and iNOS/NF-ĸB/caspase-3 pathway. Open Chem. 2023;21:20230126. doi: 10.1515/chem-2023-0126. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources