Many of us have experienced painful encounters with the pointy end of a honeybee, their weapons could be more than just a nuisance. A new lab study shows that a molecule found in bee venom can suppress the growth of nasty cancer cells.
The study focused on certain subtypes of breast cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is an extremely aggressive condition with limited treatment options.
TNBC accounts for up to 15 percent of all breast cancers. In many cases, its cells produce more of a molecule called EGFR than seen in normal cells. Previous attempts to develop treatments that specifically target this molecule have not worked, because they would also negatively affect healthy cells.
Honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom has shown potential in other medical therapies such as treating eczema and has been known to have anti-tumor properties for some time now, including melanoma. But how it works against tumors at a molecular level isn't fully understood. Now, we've taken a huge step closer to the answer.
Bees actually use melittin- the 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 subjected lab-grown cancer cells and normal cells to honeybee venom from Ireland, England, and Australia, and to bumblebee venom from England, the honeybee venom from all locations did make a difference.
They found that melittin can be used with small molecules or chemotherapies, such as docetaxel, to treat highly aggressive types of breast cancer, research explained "The combination of melittin and docetaxel was extremely efficient in reducing tumor growth in mice."
Of course, plenty of things can kill a cancer cell in a petri dish, and the researchers caution that there's still a long way to go before this bee venom molecule could be used as a treatment in humans.
But this formidable insect weapon provides another incredible example of chemicals found in nature that could turn out to be useful for human diseases as well. However, we must remember that like so many other creatures - honeybees are facing health threats of their own.
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