Abstract

The broader objective of this study is to identify natural materials that might inhibit the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. We have focused on stingless bee honey, which has a unique taste that is both sweet and sour and sometimes bitter. We screened 12 samples of honey from 11 species of stingless bees using an angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2)-spike protein-binding assay and phytochemical analysis. Ten of the samples showed inhibition above 50% in this assay system. Most of the honey contained tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids, triterpenoids, carotenoids and carbohydrates. Our findings in this in vitro study showed that honey from stingless bees may have a potent effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection by inhibiting the ACE2-spike protein-binding.

…

In our previous works on stingless bee products, we found that the honey of the Wallacetrigona incisa (formerly Trigona incisa) and Tetragonula fuscobalteata (formerly Trigona fuscobalteata) showed cytotoxicity effects against five human cancer cell lines, including the HepG2, SW620, ChaGo-I, KATO-III and BT474 cell lines (10). In the present study, we continue to investigate the medicinal properties of honey from 11 stingless bee species, including Tetragonula biroi, Homotrigona fimbriata, Tetragonula sarawakensis, Tetragonula laeviceps, Tetragonula reepeni, Tetragonula fuscobalteata, Lepidotrigona terminata, Tetragonula testaceitarcis, Tetragonula iridipennis, Heterotrigona itama and Wallacetrigona incisa to determine their potency as potential preventive treatments against COVID-19 infection through their ability to inhibit ACE2-spike protein-binding.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36474534/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9681006/