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posted by martyb on Thursday September 03 2020, @12:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the https://xkcd.com/1217/ dept.

A Molecule in Honeybee Venom Destroys Breast Cancer Cells in The Lab, Study Shows:

The study focussed(sic) on certain subtypes of breast cancer, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is an extremely aggressive condition with limited treatment options.

TNBC accounts for up to 15 percent of all breast cancers. In many cases, its cells produce more of a molecule called EGFR than seen in normal cells. Previous attempts to develop treatments that specifically target this molecule have not worked, because they would also negatively affect healthy cells.

[...] Bees actually use melittin - the molecule that makes up half of their venom and makes their stings really hecking painful - to fight off their own pathogens. The insects produce this peptide not just in their venom, but in other tissues too, where it's expressed in response to infections.

[...] "The venom was extremely potent," said medical researcher Ciara Duffy from The Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. "We found that melittin can completely destroy cancer cell membranes within 60 minutes."

When melittin was blocked with an antibody, the cancer cells exposed to the bee venom survived - showing that melittin was indeed the venom component responsible for the results in the earlier trials.

The best part: melittin had little impact on normal cells, specifically targeting cells that produced a lot of EGFR and HER2 (another molecule excessively produced by some breast cancer types); it even messed with the cancer cells' ability to replicate.

[...] Taking their conclusions even further, the research team also produced a synthetic version of melittin, to see how it would perform compared to the real deal.

"We found that the synthetic product mirrored the majority of the anti-cancer effects of honeybee venom," Duffy said.

Journal Reference:
Ciara Duffy, Anabel Sorolla, Edina Wang, et al. Honeybee venom and melittin suppress growth factor receptor activation in HER2-enriched and triple-negative breast cancer [open], npj Precision Oncology (DOI: 10.1038/s41698-020-00129-0)


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  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:58PM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Thursday September 03 2020, @08:58PM (#1046066)

    In my experience (admittedly limited though it is) young Mormons tend to drink and swear and get up to all sorts of fun the minute they're away from the control of the cult.

    Yes Lisa, I do wistfully think of you occasionally. *sigh* good times.

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