• Immunotherapeutic Effects of Propolis in Cancer treatment
  • Shima Bidabad,1 Nassim valivand,2 shiva ansari astaneh,3 hajie lotfi,4,*
    1. 1)Department of medical biotechnology, School of paramedical sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran 2)Student Research Committee, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
    2. 1)Department of medical biotechnology, School of paramedical sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran 2)Student Research Committee, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
    3. 1)Department of medical biotechnology, School of paramedical sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran 2)Student Research Committee, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran
    4. !)Student Research Committee, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran 2)Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Research Institute for prevention of Non-Communicable Disease, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran


  • Introduction: The increasing incidence of cancer has caused great concern around the world. Therefore, finding a safe and effective treatment has become one of the main goals of researchers. Immunotherapy is an effective method compared to common cancer treatments, in which the patient's immune system is activated to fight a certain group of diseases, including cancer, by targeting and destroying tumor cells specifically. Propolis is one of the most promising immune system modulating factors. Propolis, which is a bee product, has been used to treat diseases since ancient times with different biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antitumor, and immunostimulatory effects. This natural healing agent contains about 300 bioactive compounds including chrysin, galangin, gallic acid, quercetin, cinnamic acid, apigenin, and caffeic acid. The purpose of this systematic review is to review the immunotherapeutic effect of Propolis on the immune system of cancer patients according to clinical and experimental studies.
  • Methods: A comprehensive systematic search of articles was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, scholar, and ProQuest with the entry terms “Propolis immunotherapeutic effect”, “Propolis and Cancer Immunotherapy, and “Cancer Immunotherapy” from 2000 to 2022. This search yielded 42 results, 8 of which were included in this systematic study.
  • Results: The researches have been conducted both in in vitro and in vivo studies. In the in vivo studies, mice have injected intraperitoneal with 50-100 mg/kg of propolis (water-soluble Propolis (WSP) or ethanolic extract of Propolis (for 7-21 days, and the results were compared with the control groups. It was found that Propolis induced antibody production, stimulated and induced lymphocytes, induced some cytokines production (IL-1 and TNF), changed the macrophages tumoricidal activity, increased the production of lymphocyte-activating factors, neutrophils, raising the ratio of CD4/CD8 T cells, and total helper T-cells. It was also found that a combination of propolis with anticancer drugs (Cisplatin, Irinotecan) inhibited tumor growth, increased the antitumor activity of chemotherapy drugs, and reduced the toxic and genotoxic effect of cisplatin on normal cells without affecting its cytotoxicity on tumor cells.
  • Conclusion: Totally, the positive immunotherapeutic effects of Propolis in cancer confirmed without any major side effects at in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies which suggested its promising potential as an anti-cancer natural agent for the development of new drugs. Therefore, more clinical studies are needed on propolis indications and usage doses.
  • Keywords: Propolis, Immunotherapy, Cancer