Chronic inflammation is associated with the development and progression of several chronic diseases, creating interest in food-derived bioactive compounds that may help regulate inflammatory responses. Dammar bee honey, produced by the stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis, has received comparatively little attention despite the growing evidence for biological activity in stingless bee honeys. This study investigated whether dammar bee honey could modulate the expression of key inflammatory markers in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 murine macrophages. Cells were pre-treated with 10% dammar bee honey for 1 h before stimulation with LPS (1.0 µg/mL). Following treatment, total RNA was extracted and the expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) was assessed using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Gene expression was normalised to β-actin and relative expression was determined using the 2−ΔΔCq method. Samples were analysed in triplicate, with results expressed as mean ± SEM, and differences were considered statistically significant at p < 0.05. Dammar bee honey significantly reduced the expression of all three inflammatory markers compared with LPS-stimulated cells. IL-6 showed the greatest reduction, with an 8.77-fold decrease, while COX-2 and TNF-α were reduced by 4.51-fold and 3.05-fold, respectively (p < 0.05). Hierarchical clustering also showed distinct gene-expression patterns between the control and honey-treated groups. The marked reduction in IL-6, together with the suppression of TNF-α and COX-2, suggests that dammar bee honey can influence important molecular mediators involved in the inflammatory response. These findings provide further evidence for the anti-inflammatory potential of T. iridipennis honey and contribute to the limited research examining its effects at the cellular and molecular levels. Further work is needed to identify the bioactive components responsible for these effects and to clarify the molecular pathways involved, as well as to determine whether these cellular responses translate into meaningful physiological benefits.
Keywords: Dammar bee honey; Stingless bee honey; Inflammation; Gene expression, Functional foods
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