Effects of royal jelly on ovary cancer cells proliferation and apoptosis

The aim of the present study is to investigate the proliferative or apoptotic effects of different doses and durations of Royal jelly (RJ) on serous type epithelial ovarian cancer, which is the most common epithelial ovarian cancer. For this purpose, cells of the Skov-3 human ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line were grown in McCoy medium and seeded in 6-well plates. RJ was prepared as a stock solution (1000 mg RJ/10 ml dH₂O) and 1, 5, 10, 20, and 50 mg/ml RJ doses from the prepared stock solution were added to the medium for 24, 48, and 72 h incubated. After the treatment of RJ, the cell viability test (Tripan Blue), Ki-67 to determine the proliferative effect, cleaved-Caspase-3 and cleaved PARP expressions to determine its apoptotic effect were examined by immunocytochemical and immunofluorescence methods. In addition, findings were supported by the TUNEL method. As a result of the experiments, it was determined that 1 mg/ml and 24 h treatment of RJ did not affect cell proliferation and apoptosis, but generally, 50 mg/ml of RJ for 72 h inhibited proliferation in cancer cells and induced apoptosis. The use of royal jelly both monotherapeutically and in combination as an alternative treatment for ovarian cancer may provide the basis for new experimental protocols.