Could the venom from bee stings hold the secret to a future cure for cancer? Apitherapy practitioners have known for centuries that bee venom has anti-arthritic properties. Now it seems likely that it may be put to other good uses in the human body — although the research is still in early days yet.
ScienceDaily (Aug. 31, 2009) reports:
When bees sting, they pump poison into their victims. Now the toxin in bee venom has been harnessed to kill tumor cells by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers attached the major component of bee venom to nano-sized spheres that they call nanobees.
In mice, nanobees delivered the bee toxin melittin to tumors while protecting other tissues from the toxin’s destructive power. The mice’s tumors stopped growing or shrank.
An abstract of the research report is available at the Journal of Clincial Investigation website, and a detailed article aimed at the general public –‘Nanobees’ Zap Tumors With Real Bee Venom — is posted on the website of the Discovery Channel.
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