Propolis bridging ancient healing traditions and contemporary biotechnology advances

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Propolis, which is a natural bioactive resin made by bees, has been used for medicinal purposes since ancient times. The ancient records reveal that the uses of propolis include wound care, antifungal properties, boils, treatment of battle wounds and preparation of various ointments. Apart from medical purposes, propolis had significant cultural and religious importance in many ancient civilizations. In recent times, increased interest in organic and multifunctional natural products has brought the attention of scientists back to propolis. The current article reviews the various uses of propolis from ancient civilizations to present-day biomedical research. For the treatment of cancer, propolis has shown its potential mainly due to its bioactive compounds like caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) and related polyphenols. In regenerative medicine, its effectiveness has been tested in experiments on animals using wound healing. Its promising results have also been found in different clinical fields, such as reproductive medicine, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), diabetes mellitus, and obesity treatment. New areas of application of propolis are also emerging, like photodynamic therapy, food preservation, dermatology, and cosmetics. Overall, this review gives an overview of the various uses of propolis.