Determination of the effectiveness of some apitherapic products used as food supplement in various cancer cell lines

Scientifically demonstrating the effectiveness of foods in the prevention and treatment of diseases in natural ways increases the importance of nutritional support in the protection of our health. For this reason, food supplements have become more consumed. In this study; It was aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effects of lyophilized apilarnil and queen bee larvae, which are used as food supplements and also thought to have anticarcinogenic effects on MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), HT-29 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma) and DLD-1 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cancer cell lines. Moreover, apilarnil and queen bee larvae are thought to inhibit cell proliferation. Therefore, in vitro study of apilarnil and queen bee larvae were chosen among the food suplements. In MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma), HT-29 (human colorectal adenocarcinoma) and DLD-1 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cancer cell lines, the cytotoxic dose and IC50 value of apilarnil and queen bee larvae were determined by MTT method. Considering the findings obtained from the study and the negative effects experienced by cancer patients during the treatment process and the strong side effects caused by drugs, it is important to develop and use food supplements with antioxidant and anticarcinogenic effects. It's thought that this study will contribute to the literature, due to the increase in the use of food supplements among cancer patients, the effect of recently popular bee products such as apilarnil and queen bee larvae on human health with large-scale studies and health professionals to raise awareness of their patients on this issue.