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.
Melittin is a small protein, or peptide, that is strongly attracted to cell membranes, where it can form pores that break up cells and kill them. It has been of interest to researchers because in high enough concentration melittin can destroy any cell it comes into contact with, making it an effective antibacterial and antifungal agent and potentially an anticancer agent.
[Source]
Chapter: Cancer :: 14 December 2009
