Honeybee Venom-New Weapon in Fight against Cancer

Read Time:1 Minute, 12 Second

We need to do even more to stop the killing of millions and millions of honeybees, and there’s even more urgency today as locked within the honeybee’s painful sting is a toxin that could fight cancer, CNN reports.  While in its early stages, research shows that venom from bees, snakes, and scorpions can stop the growth of cancer cells.

Honeybee Gathering Pollen
A honeybee gathers pollen from a flower. (AP Photo/Peter M. Fredin)

University of Illinois scientist Dipanjan Pan has taken the research one step further by eliminating the toxin’s dangerous side effects (swelling, blood clots, heart damage), which have stymied its use as a cancer treatment. His team synthetically replicated the cancer-fighting element in bee venom called melittin—there’s too little of it to use the natural stuff, the American Chemical Society explains.

Pan “tightly packed” this synthetic melittin into a nanoparticle to keep the toxins from leaking into the blood stream and causing trouble. “These particles, which are camouflaged from the immune system, take the toxin directly to the cancer cells, sparing normal tissue,” Pan says. The treatment would turn tumors into unavoidable targets while leaving healthy cells alone. Pan will now test these venom-infused nanoparticles on cancer cells in rats and pigs. Human tests will follow, and the whole process could take up to five years. Ultimately, Pan’s find could lead to new cancer drugs.

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

4 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Marsha Woerner
9 years ago

Agreed

Marsha Woerner
9 years ago

Interesting…
There has been one “folk treatment” for MS of ” bee sting therapy”. I had always just assumed it was just another “wishful thinking” thing, not unlike eliminating NutraSweet from your diet and removing all of the amalgam fillings from your mouth. Certainly, all of the research that I’ve seen about this has been inconclusive at best; I had not previously realized that there could actually be a justification for the thought that bee stings would have any effect whatsoever, much less a positive effect. I have to remember that in my effort to not be sucked in by snake oil theories, I still need to keep an open mind and not be totally prejudiced. I do continue to try to follow currently available research.

Pennyjane Hanson
9 years ago

takes on some urgency for me. was at a “climate change” discussion last night where i heard that many growers in brazil are having to pollinate plants by hand these days. it seems that many of the species of insect that God put on this earth to do such work are disappearing at alarming rates. climate change, though, being a hoax and all, has nothing to do with it.

Previous post How Education Affects The United States of America
Next post Giant Horse Penis in Tea Bagger Congressional Candidate Ad
4
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x