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A new lab study shows that a molecule found in bee venom can suppress the growth of particularly nasty cancer cells.
He study has focused on certain subtypes of breast cancer, including triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is an extremely aggressive condition with limited treatment options.
TNBC
TNBC accounts for up to 15 % of all breast cancers. To be treated, different types of treatments are needed because they are estrogen receptor negative, progesterone receptor negative and HER2 negative. Drugs such as tamoxifen, which targets the estrogen receptor, and trastuzumab (Herceptin), which targets HER2, are not helpful in treating triple-negative breast cancer.
He bee venom (Apis mellifera), however, it has shown potential in other medical therapies such as treating eczema, and has been known for some time to have anti-tumor properties, including melanoma. However, how it works against tumors at the molecular level is not fully understood. Now, however, a big step has been taken towards the answer.
Bees really use melittin, the molecule that makes up half of its venom and makes its bites painful, to combat its own pathogens. Insects produce this peptide not only in their venom, but also in other tissues, where it is expressed in response to infections. With their sights set on this molecule, the researchers subjected lab-grown cancer cells and normal cells to bee venom from Ireland, England, and Australia, and bumblebee venom (Bombus terrestris) from England.
Bumblebee venom, which does not contain melittin, had little effect on breast cancer cells, but bee venom of all places did make a difference. In fact, melittin can completely destroy cancer cell membranes within 60 minutes.
Furthermore, if this were not enough, melittin had little impact on normal cells, specifically targeting cells that produced a large amount of EGFR and HER2 (another molecule produced in excess by some types of breast cancer); it even spoiled the ability of cancer cells to replicate.
After trying the same thing with a synthetic version of melittin, they discovered the same results.
Before you get excited, it's worth warning that many things can kill a cancer cell in a petri dish, and researchers warn that there is still a long way to go before this bee venom molecule can potentially be used as a treatment in humans.
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The news
Breast cancer cells are destroyed in the laboratory thanks to bee venom
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.
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