Beehive Extract as Prostate Cancer Treatment: Is Honeycomb the Answer?

Bee resin as a prostate cancer treatment? A new study has been published about the effects of using beehive extract to treat prostate cancer. The study, “Caffeic acid phenethyl ester suppresses the proliferation of human prostate cancer cells through inhibition of p70S6K and Akt signaling networks” was published today in the Cancer Prevention Research journal. This study examines the beehive extract called Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), a resin that is used by the bees to fix holes in their hive.

Richard B. Jones, PhD, co- author of the study, found that CAPE, when given daily to mice with tumors for six weeks, stopped the tumors from growing. When researchers stopped feeding CAPE to the mice, their tumors grew back. CAPE does not kill the cancer, but does stop the cancerous cells from multiplying, thus stopping tumor growth.

Interview with Dr. Jones

Decoded Science had the opportunity to interview Dr. Jones about his study. I asked Dr. Jones to describe the importance of the honeybee extract.

“CAPE is an acronym for Caffeic acid phenethyl ester. It is a natural bioactive product isolated from honeybee hive propolis. Propolis is a substance that honeybees use to patch up holes in their hives. Bees collect substances from plants to make propolis. CAPE has been shown by many researchers to have beneficial medicinal properties including anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial activity. Propolis and more recently CAPE, the bioactive product of propolis, have been used in natural medicine.”

Click to Read Page Two: Treating Prostate Cancer with CAPE

© Copyright 2012 Janelle Vaesa, MPH, All rights Reserved. Written For: Decoded Science