Tumours feel the deadly sting of bee venom
When bees sting, they pump poison into their victims. Now the toxin in bee venom has been harnessed to kill tumour cells by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, US. The researchers attached the major component of bee venom to nano-sized spheres with a perfluorocarbon core; they call these "nanobees".
When bees sting, they pump poison into their victims. Now the toxin in bee venom has been harnessed to kill tumour cells by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, US. The researchers attached the major component of bee venom to nano-sized spheres with a perfluorocarbon core; they call these "nanobees".
A study in mice, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (August 10, 2009), showed that nanobees delivered the toxin melittin to tumours while protecting other tissues from the toxin's destructive power. As a result the tumours stopped growing or shrank.
Samuel Wickline, head of the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Washington University, said: "We've shown the bee toxin gets taken into the cells where it pokes holes in their internal structures."
"Melittin has been of interest to researchers because in high enough concentration it can destroy any cell it comes into contact with, making it an effective antibacterial and antifungal agent and potentially an anticancer agent," says Paul Schlesinger, associate professor of cell biology and physiology.
The results suggest that nanobees could even prevent early cancers from developing.