A study carried out by scientists at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Perth, Australia and the University of Western Australia has shown that a major constituent of honeybee venom could be effective in the treatment of some cancers.

The 2020 study, published in the 'NPJ Precision Oncology' journal, revealed that melittin is effective in inducing cell death, particularly in aggressive forms of breast cancer.

 

Bee ecology and the power of apiculture

Bee keeping is an ancient, almost unchanged agricultural practice that has been carried out globally for thousands of years. With the dual result of providing physical resources as well as benefitting the wider environment through pollination of plants and crops, apiculture remains an agricultural lifeblood for mankind.

Certain bee products such as propolis have long been used in over-the-counter treatments for ailments such as cold-sores and other skin conditions and the health benefits of bee products, from royal jelly to beeswax, have been proven over millennia.

Scientists believe there are many more attributes and applications which could be discovered through controlled research and the Australian research is just one of many apitherapy studies aiming to show the efficacy of bee products in future healthcare developments.

Dr Sosnowski knew that propolis is a powerful natural substance with many healing properties and he understood the role that apitherapy could play in the health and wellbeing of humans.

 

The 'sting' that could fight breast cancer

Honeybee venom has previously been used to treat conditions such as eczema and certain tumours. Scientists have noted its potential anti-cancer properties for some time. However, understanding how and why it works, and how it can be delivered efficiently, has been something of a mystery.

The laboratory study, "Honeybee venom and melittin suppress growth factor receptor activation in HER2-enriched and triple-negative breast cancer" by Ciara Duffy et al, was carried out in Australia. It revealed that melittin (a cationic amphipathic peptide component of honeybee venom) was able to target malignant cells in mice while leaving normal cells with minimal levels of toxicity, particularly in highly aggressive forms cancer, notably triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and HER2 positive breast cancer.

Researchers reported the extreme potency of the honeybee venom, stating that melittin was able to destroy cancer cell membranes within 60 minutes by halting the activation of receptors which signal growth factors in cells.

HER2-positive breast cancer cells and some TNBC cells contain large numbers of these growth receptors and this is one reason for the aggressive and uncontrollable growth of cancer. As melittin appears to block the growth signals and reduce cell replication, researchers are hopeful that it could be used in cancer treatments in humans.

Research leader Ciara Duffy noted that bumble bee venom does not contain melittin and was not effective at reducing cancer cells.

 

Apitherapy combined with existing medications

The researchers tested melittin alongside docetaxel (a type of chemotherapy) and found that the combination was more effective at shrinking tumours than when each treatment was used alone.

One of the main benefits of using melittin as a cancer treatment is that it is a relatively cheap and abundant natural compound. Peter Klinken, Western Australia's Chief Scientist Professor said that this research provided another example of how natural substances can be used in modern medicine.

 

Melittin-based cancer therapy – further research

In 2021, a number of further studies were published into the development and delivery of melittin for anti-cancer treatments, including:

• April 13 2021 – "Delivery Strategies for Melittin-Based Cancer Therapy", by Jie Zhou, et al, published by the American Chemical Society
• June 22 2021 – "Delivery of melittin-loaded niosomes for breast cancer treatment: an in vitro and in vivo evaluation of anti-cancer effect", by Farnaz Dabbagh Moghaddam, et al, published Springer Link
• October 2021 – "Development of D-melittin polymeric nanoparticles for anti-cancer treatment" by Shixian Lv, et al, published by Elsevier Science Direct

These and other studies have identified some of the challenges associated with delivery of melittin as an anti-cancer treatment.

Moghaddam et al note that the rapid degradation of melittin when injected intravenously causes a toxic reaction. For their study, noisome, a non-ionic surfactant-based vesicle, was used as a nanocarrier for the melittin to negate the adverse environmental effects on the compound.

In their conclusion, they state that the study demonstrates the suitability of niosomes as vesicle carriers for combined drugs, particularly melittin. Melittin-loaded niosomes showed higher in-vivo and in-vitro anti-cancer effects than free melittin.

It is widely hoped that the findings of these studies can soon be put into production and trialled in human subjects.