RNA-Seq analysis on effects of royal jelly on tumour growth in 4T1-bearing mice

Royal jelly (RJ) possesses biological effects on varied organisms. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of RJ on tumour growth with transcriptomic profile. RJ intake for 42 days did inhibit tumour growth in 4T1-bearing mice, and gene expression profile of tumour was determined by high-throughput RNA sequencing system. Out of 281 differently expressed genes (DEGs), 56 were annotated with immune system processes, suggesting that RJ immunomodulation was response to the tumour growth in 4T1-bearing mice. KEGG pathway analysis had shown that only four pathways were notably enriched in tumour of RJ-treated 4T1-bearing mice. DEG ratios related to immunity in these four pathways were very high. Overlapping DEGs of these four pathways were all related to immunity. These findings showed that tumour growth in 4T1-bearing mice was affected by RJ-induced alterations in gene expression and related pathways, especially the immune-related genes.