Study reveals bee venom can destroy breast cancer cells in one hour

Studies say bee venom can kill breast cancer cells in just one hour.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Breast cancer ranks first in terms of the highest number of cancers in Indonesia and is one of the first contributors to cancer deaths. According to Globocan 2020, the number of new cases of breast cancer reached 68,858 cases (16.6 percent) of the total 396,914 new cases of cancer in Indonesia.

Currently, reports regarding compounds in bee venom or called melittin that can destroy cancer cells breasts can be good news. The compound is known to destroy cancer cells in as little as an hour, according to new research.

The cancer community has presented a new study which finds that bee venom can kill cancer cells. Scientists at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia tested the venom from more than 300 honey bees and bees against two types of aggressive and difficult-to-treat breast cancer.

Researchers found that a compound in the toxin called melittin can destroy breast cancer cells within an hour, without causing damage to other cells. They also found that when used in conjunction with chemotherapy drugs, melittin helped form pores in the cancer cell membranes that could potentially allow the therapy to penetrate cells better.

While the tests for this study were only conducted in a laboratory, the researchers believe the compound could be reproduced synthetically as a treatment for breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center, Dr Marilena Tauro, said while the findings were impressive, more research needed to be done before it could become a viable therapy. The good news is that this study shows that melittin can interfere with the signaling pathways in breast cancer cells that are responsible for the growth and spread of the disease.

However, there have been many studies where the compound has been shown to successfully kill cancer cells in laboratory or animal models, but it can take years for those discoveries to reach patients.

Tauro adds that about half of all current medicine comes from natural products, which demonstrates the potential use of bee venom for drug discovery.

“Nature is a great supplier of active elements and chemical synthesis has made it possible to provide many drugs of natural origin in the doses required for therapeutic use, although the supply from the original source is often very limited,” he said. The BrightersideMonday (6/6/2022).