Jungle Honey Enhances Immune Function and Antitumor Activity

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.