Abstract
Propolis evokes several therapeutic properties, including anticancer activity. These activities are attributed to the action of polyphenols. Previously it has been demonstrated, that one of the most abundant polyphenolic compounds in ethanolic extracts of propolis are chrysin, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, and ferulic acid. Although their pro-apoptotic activity on human tongue squamous cell carcinoma cells (CAL-27) was established previously, the detailed mechanism of this process remains unclear. Considering the crucial role of proline metabolism and proline dehydrogenase/proline oxidase (PRODH/POX) in the regulation of cancer cell survival/apoptosis, we studied these processes in polyphenol-treated CAL-27 cells. All studied polyphenols evoked anti-proliferative activity, accompanied by increased PRODH/POX, P53, active caspases-3 and -9 expressions and decreased collagen biosynthesis, prolidase activity and proline concentration in CAL-27 cells. These data suggest that polyphenols of propolis induce PRODH/POX-dependent apoptosis through up-regulation of mitochondrial proline degradation and down-regulation of proline utilization for collagen biosynthesis.
Highlights
Propolis has been a key element of healthcare, and it products are still widely used as an alternative and complementary therapy or often as a primary treatment
The use of ferulic acid decreased cell survival to 85, 65, and 50% compared to controls whereas in the case of p-coumaric acid, the viability of CAL-27 cells was reduced to 82, 80, and 73% compared to controls (100%)
We found that selected polyphenols of propolis induced apoptosis in CAL-27 cells through upregulation of proline metabolism
Summary
Propolis has been a key element of healthcare, and it products are still widely used as an alternative and complementary therapy or often as a primary treatment. Ethnopharmacology proved that propolis has medicinal properties , setting out directions for further research. Studies on the biological activity of propolis conducted in recent years revealed a wide spectrum of its activities. Propolis has many therapeutic properties, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory as well as immunomodulatory activity (Bankova et al, 2014). To broadly known propolis components belong among others: diterpenes, lignans, sesquiterpenes, acetophenones (Bankova, 2005), flavonoids and phenolic acid esters (Bankova et al, 2000) which are responsible for numerous of its biological activities (Kubiliene et al, 2015; Turan et al, 2015; Yildirim et al, 2016)
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