The Effects of Royal Jelly on the Pro-Inflammatory Innate Immunity Cytokines in Patients Infected with Hepatitis B Virus and Its Antiviral Activity

Introduction: innate immunity cytokines conduct significant functions in the stimulation and induction of liver complications in hepatitis b infected patients. it has been reported that royal jelly (rj) has important roles in decreasing the pro-inflammatory cytokines in both in vitro and in vivo conditions. this project aimed to investigate the impacts of 1-month rj administration on interleukin 1 beta (il-1β), tumor necrosis factor alpha (tnf-α), and interleukin 6 (il-6) serum levels in the hepatitis b patients.materials and methods: in this research, 30 hepatitis b cases (patients) were entered in order to be under treatment of rj for 1 month. before and after the treatment with rj, hepatitis b virus (hbv) copy numbers were evaluated using real-time pcr and il-1β, tnf-α, and il-6 serum levels evaluated using the elisa technique.results: the rj treatment significantly reduced the number of hbv-dna copies and led to down-regulation of tnf-α and il-6, which were not substantial. the il-1β, tnf-α, and il-6 serum levels were not changed after rj treatment in both men and women.conclusions: based on the findings of the present study, it seems that rj plays anti-viral and anti-inflammatory roles in the in vivo conditions in infected patients with hbv.