Effect of stingless bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apinae: Meliponini) propolis on the proliferation of human stem cells

The effect of stingless bee propolis on the proliferation and differentiation of human stem cells is reported for the first time. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) treated with the propolis extracted from Lisotrigona sp, Tetragonula calophyllae and T. travancorica (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apinae: Meliponini) displayed a remarkable difference in their morphology. Gene expression analysis revealed pluripotency markers OCT4 and NANOG to be down-regulated upon treatment with propolis, which confirmed early differentiation of hPSCs. Further investigation on the gene expression of early differentiation markers revealed that propolis supports mesendoderm differentiation, which is a novel finding. The propolis obtained from stingless bees Tetragonula spp. probably has more therapeutic value in terms of its effect on hPSCs viz., more tendency of the cells to differentiate into mesoderm and endoderm lineages, compared to the propolis obtained from Lisotrigona sp.