Honey bees are always in the news, and with the recent excitement around their potential anti-cancer properties, one anticipates the buzz will grow. Honey bees are most studied for their ecological impact and are key to maintaining the cycle of pollination in our ecosystem. The added benefit of honey, which is harvested as a natural resource, makes these insects impactful in every home worldwide.
Australia’s early settlers brought the European honeybee along with them. It is also known as the Western honeybee and reared for its ability to produce honey and pollinate flowers. Apart from the clear importance in ecology and food, these honeybees have a promising part to play in healthcare. Honey bee produces a venom that has been studied for decades for its various medicinal properties.
Scientists discovered that the venom produced by honeybees is toxic to some types of cancer cells. In fact, the component that makes the honey bee venom has been isolated. This is a molecule known as Melittin. Melittin makes up half of the dry weight of honeybee venom and is made of a string of 26 amino acids (a peptide). Its structure was discovered four decades ago by scientists at UCLA.
Recently, a study was reported in the journal Nature that showed that melittin destroyed breast cancer cells. The researchers were carried out many experiments on cells that were taken from a type of breast cancer known as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). They discovered the precise mechanism by which honeybee venom and pure melittin both could cause the cancer cells to stop growing and even self-destruct. In the current Nature study, when melittin was used in its’ pure form, it was much more potent than the honeybee venom was.
Bumblebee venom also has anti-cancer properties, but it does not contain melittin and acts by a different mechanism. The venom of bees (both honeybees and bumblebees) has been known for centuries to have various therapeutic properties, however the molecular mechanism has been understood more in the past decade. The more the specific way in which of melittin acts is understood, the better it can be designed to use in targeted therapies. Fusing the melittin peptide with a chemical agent that can either move it to the desired location in the body or increase its’ effectiveness is also being investigated.
Bibliography
“Honey Bee.” The Australian Museum, australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/honey-bee/. https://australian.museum/learn/animals/insects/honey-bee/#:~:text=Honey%20Bee%201%20Identification.%20Honey%20Bees%20are%20one,native%20and%20introduced%20plant%20species.%20More%20items…%20
Duffy C. et al. “Honeybee venom and melittin suppress growth factor receptor activation in HER2-enriched and triple-negative breast cancer” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41698-020-00129-0.pdf
Terwilliger, T. C. et al. “The structure of melittin in the form I crystals and its implication for melittin’s lytic and surface activities” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7055627
Terwilliger, T. C. & Eisenberg, D. The structure of melittin. II. Interpretation of the structure. J. Biol. Chem. 257, 6016–6022(1982).
Cheng, B., Thapa, B., K. C., R. & Xu, P.” Dual secured nano-melittin for the safe and effective eradication of cancer cells.” J. Mater. Chem. B 3, 25–29 (2015).
Soman, N. R. et al. “Molecularly targeted nanocarriers deliver the cytolytic peptide melittin specifically to tumor cells in mice, reducing tumor growth.” J. Clin. Investig. 119, 2830–2842(2009).
