A critical review letter
was published concerning the article “Quercus pyrenaica honeydew honey effects on
gastric adenocarcinoma cells” published in Integrative Cancer Therapies in 2019.
According to the letter, the authors reported that the Quercus pyrenaica mentioned in
the study was neither found in Mount Ida nor within the borders of Turkey as stated in the
study, therefore the results obtained in the study may belong to another Quercus species.In fact, within the scope of this project, 14 different types of honey obtained from
different regions of Turkey were studied. The total phenol and flavonoid contents of each were
analyzed. According to the results, 2 honey species with the highest and lowest phenolic
content were selected to research other biological activities on cancer cells. One of them was
acorn honey which was obtained from Mount Ida, and the other one is a multifloral honey which
was obtained from the same region. At that time, unfortunately, we did not have the
opportunity to investigate the flora of the region where each honey was produced in detail.
When verbally asked about the origin of acorn honey to the producer, they reported that the
origin of honey is Quercus pyrenaica. Therefore, this genus was mentioned as
Quercus pyrenaica in the article. In fact, our main aim with this study was
to compare the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of different honey samples and their
cytotoxic, genotoxic, apoptotic, and pro-oxidant activities on cancer cells. Therefore, we
focused on the phenolic compounds and biological activities of the honeys rather than the
flora of the region where the honeys are produced. After the letter, we focused on the flora
of the region where the acorn honey is produced. The genus Quercus, with high
diversity and number of species, dominates many regions of temperate, tropical, and
subtropical forests of Europe and North America.
The genus contains more than 500 species distributed in the temperate zone in the
Northern Hemisphere.
Turkey is among the richest countries in the number of Quercus taxa,
with 18 species belonging to 3 sections, Quercus, Cerris, and
Ile,
and 11 of them are known to be distributed in the Mount Ida region.
When we asked the Forest Regional Directorate of the region where honey is produced
with an official letter, they replied that there are 3 different Quercus
species, Quercus frainetto, Quercus cerris, and Quercus
petraea in the region where honey is produced (letter available from the authors on
reasonable request).In conclusion, our main focus with this study was to investigate the phenolic contents of
honeys and the effects of honey with the highest and lowest phenolic content on the genotoxic,
cytotoxic, apoptotic, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production capacities on cancer cells,
rather than the characteristics of the flora from which 14 different honey species are
produced. Information on the origin of the honey with the highest phenolic content was
requested from the producer, and according to the response received, it was incorrectly
mentioned as Quercus pyrenaica in the article. Therefore, we think that it
would be appropriate to publish a corrigendum to correct the errors in our article.