Honeybee venom shown to treat breast cancer, study suggests

Could honeybees be a key treatment in the fight against breast cancer?

A new study conducted in Australia has found the venom honeybees carry has a compound used on two hard-to-treat cancer types: triple-negative and HER2-enriched, the BBC reported.

The compound is called melittin and was used in a lab setting.

More testing is needed. Scientists warn it is still early in the process, and while the compound can kill breast cancer in a dish or a mouse in a lab, there’s still a long way to go until they can determine if it will work in human cases, the BBC reported.

Bee venom has been tested on other cancers like melanoma.

In this use case, scientists looked at more than 300 honeybees and bumblebees. Honeybees worked the best with one amount of venom killing cancer cells in an hour without hurting other cells.

Researchers also found that it could be used in conjunction with some chemotherapies, Fox News reported.

The good news is, while melittin is a natural compound in honeybee venom, it can also be created in a lab.

The study was conducted by the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia and was published in Nature Precision Oncology, which, according to the BBC, is a peer-reviewed journal.

The tests were done in England, Ireland and Perth, Western Australia, Fox News reported.

You can read the study, here.

Cox Media Group