When manuka honey was applied to skin cells in the lab, it activated a receptor called AHR that helps regulate skin inflammation and barrier function. The honey reduced inflammatory signals (specifically IL-4-induced CCL26) and boosted expression of filaggrin, a protein essential for skin barrier health—effects that disappeared when researchers blocked the AHR pathway, proving that's how manuka honey works.

Researchers tested 2% manuka honey on human skin cells in petri dishes and on genetically modified mice. They used chemical inhibitors to block specific pathways and compared results in normal cells versus cells where the AHR gene was silenced, to isolate exactly how manuka honey affects skin.

Funding not disclosed in abstract