For the thousands of years
bees are renowned for their role in providing high-quality food – honey, royal
jelly and pollen, and other products used in healthcare and other sectors
beeswax, propolis honey bee venom.
For the first time,
researchers have discovered a molecule found in bee venom can suppress the
growth of nasty cancer cells.
The study has shown a progressive and positive result on certain types of breast cancer, including
triple-negative breast cancer, which is an extremely aggressive condition with
limited treatment options.
According to the scientist’s
honeybee venom and its active component, melittin, are toxic to a wide range of
tumors – including melanoma, lung, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers in
laboratory tests. But how it works against tumors at a molecular level isn’t fully
understood.
Bees use melittin – it
is kind of molecule that makes up half of their venom and makes their stings
really hecking painful – to fight off their own pathogens. The insects produce
this peptide not just in their venom, but in other tissues too, where it’s
expressed in response to infections.
Researchers grew cancer
cells and normal cells to honey bee from Ireland, England, and Australia, and
to bumblebee (Bombus Terrestris) venom from England.
What they found?
Researchers found
bumblebee venom- which doesn’t contain melittin but has another potential cell killers – had little effect on breast cancer cells, however; the honeybee venom
from all locations did make a difference.
According to the researcher
Ciara Duffy – the venom was extremely potent. And found that melittin can
completely destroy cancer cell membranes within 60 minutes.
When melittin was
blocked with an antibody, the cancer cells exposed to the bee venom survived –
showing that melittin was indeed the venom component responsible for the
results in the earlier trials.
The most amazing part is
melittin had little impact on healthy cells, specifically targeting cells that
produced a lot of EGFR and HER2, which are another molecule excessively produced
by several breast cancer types, it even messed with the cancer cells’ ability
to replicate.
Western Australia’s
Chief Scientist Peter Klinken said – this study demonstrates how melittin
interferes with signaling pathways within breast cancer cells to reduce cell
replication.
How scientists confirm the success of this
research?
According to Ciara Duffy
the research team also produced a synthetic version of melittin to see how it
would perform compared to the real deal.
They found that the
synthetic product mirrored the majority of the anti-cancer effects of honeybee
venom.
They tested the action
of melittin paired with chemotherapy drugs in mice. The experimental treatment
reduced the levels of a molecule the cancer cells use to evade detection by the
immune system.
Conclusively they found
that melittin can be used with small molecules or chemotherapy, such as docetaxel,
to treat highly aggressive types of breast cancer, “the combination of melittin
and docetaxel was extremely efficient in reducing tumor growth in mice.
Other types of cancers,
like lung cancer might be treated, and these positive results suggest they have
potential targets for melittin, too.
Researchers stated that
there still a long way to go before this bee venom molecule could potentially be
used as a treatment in humans.
How insect weapon
provides brilliant examples of chemical found in nature that could turn out to
be useful for human diseases as well. We must secure such a beautiful creature
from extinction, and honeybees are facing significant health threats of their
own.
Research published in –
nature precision Oncology
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