Using the venom from 312 honeybees and bumblebees in Perth, Western Australia; Ireland; and England, Dr. Ciara Duffy from the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and the University of Western Australia tested the effect of honeybee venom on the clinical subtypes of breast cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer, which has limited treatment options.

Results published in the international journal NJP Nature Precision Oncology revealed that honeybee venom rapidly destroyed triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-enriched breast cancer cells.

Duffy said the aim of the research was to investigate the anti-cancer properties of honeybee venom and a component compound, melittin, on different types of breast cancer cells.

“We tested a very small, positively charged peptide in honeybee venom called melittin, which we could reproduce synthetically, and found that the synthetic product mirrored the majority of the anti-cancer effects of honeybee venom,” Duffy said.

“We found both honeybee venom and melittin significantly, selectively, and rapidly reduced the viability of triple-negative breast cancer and HER2-enriched breast cancer cells. The venom was extremely potent.”

A specific concentration of honeybee venom can induce 100% cancer cell death, while having minimal effects on normal cells.

“We found that melittin can completely destroy cancer cell membranes within 60 minutes,” Duffy said.

Melittin in honeybee venom also had another remarkable effect: Within 20 minutes, melittin was able to substantially reduce the chemical messages of cancer cells that are essential to cancer cell growth and cell division.

Duffy also tested to see if melittin could be used with existing chemotherapy drugs as it forms pores, or holes, in breast cancer cell membranes, potentially enabling the entry of other treatments into the cancer cell to enhance cell death.

“We found that melittin can be used with small molecules or chemotherapies, such as docetaxel, to treat highly aggressive types of breast cancer,” she said. “The combination of melittin and docetaxel was extremely efficient in reducing tumor growth in mice.”

Duffy’s research was conducted as part of her Ph.D. undertaken at Perth’s Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research at the Cancer Epigenetics laboratory overseen by associate professor Pilar Blancafort.

While there are 20,000 species of bees, Duffy wanted to compare the effects of honeybee venom from honeybees in Perth, Australia, to other honeybee populations in Ireland and England, as well as to the venom of bumblebees.

“I found that the European honeybee in Australia, Ireland, and England produced almost identical effects in breast cancer compared to normal cells. However, bumblebee venom was unable to induce cell death, even at very high concentrations.”

One of the first reports of the effects of bee venom was published in Nature in 1950, where the venom reduced the growth of tumors in plants. However, Duffy said it was only in the past two decades that interest grew substantially into the effects of honeybee venom on different cancers.

In the future, studies will be required to formally assess the optimum method of delivery of melittin, as well as toxicities and maximum tolerated doses.

For more information, visit www.perkins.org.au.

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