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Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Neuropharmacological Manipulation of Restrained and Free-flying Honey Bees, Apis mellifera
Published on: November 26, 2016
Can Bee Venom Be Used as Anticancer Agent in Modern Medicine?
Agata Małek1, Maciej Strzemski2, Joanna Kurzepa3
1Department of Medical Chemistry, Medical University of Lublin, Chodźki 4a, 20-093 Lublin, Poland.
Abstract:
Honey bee venom in its composition contains many biologically active peptides and enzymes that are effective in the fight against diseases of various etiologies. The history of the use of bee venom for medicinal purposes dates back thousands of years. There are many reports in the literature on the pharmacological properties of bee venom and/or its main components, e.g., anti-arthritic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial or neuroprotective properties. In addition, both crude venom and melittin exhibit cytotoxic activity against a wide range of tumor cells, with significant anti-metastatic activity in pre-clinical studies. Due to the constantly increasing incidence of cancer, the development of new therapeutic strategies in oncology is a particular challenge for modern medicine. A review paper discusses the various properties of bee venom with an emphasis on its anticancer properties. For this purpose, the PubMed database was searched, and publications related to "bee", "venom", "cancer" from the last 10 years were selected.
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