Bee Toxins to Fight Cancer

Bee Toxins to Fight Cancer

March 3, 1999. The sting of a bee may eventually be used to kill cancer cells. Australian scientists are modifying bee venom to develop cancer treatments with fewer side effects than other drugs used to fight the disease.
     The venom in the bee sting contains mellitin, a molecule that kills cells by slicing through the cell walls, destroying the cells. Australian researchers have altered the structure of the mellitin molecule to remove the part that causes the allergic reaction while still maintaining its ability to kill cells.
     The next step is to target the killing activity of mellitin to cancer cells only, without harm to healthy cells. They plan to achieve this by attaching the modified mellitin to an antibody molecule that specifically recognizes cancer cells. This combination of a toxin and an antibody is known as an immunotoxin.
Aim to Make it More Effective Than Chemotherapy

Larissa Doughty using a cell culture to grow antibodies which will be joined to the modified bee venom protein (mellitin) ©CSIRO Molecular Science

If the the $1.3 million project succeeds, immunotoxins will generate a new class of cancer drugs that can attack a wide range of cancer cells. This approach should overcome the major drawbacks of chemotherapy treatment.
     They want to make immunotoxins that can attack a wide range of cancer cells. This approach should overcome the major drawbacks of chemotherapy treatment.
     Chemotherapy drugs are not specific; they attack normal cells thereby causing unwanted side effects such as hair loss, vomiting and weight loss. Such symptoms limit the amount of drug that can be administered and hence its effectiveness.
     The concept of molecules such as immunotoxins as "magic bullets" for cancer treatment is not new. Scientists have created a number of immunotoxin drugs with toxins derived from plants and bacteria. These immunotoxins, however, produce a number of serious side effects that limit their clinical application.
     Mellitin appears to be far less toxic than the plant and bacterial toxins used in earlier work. New immunotoxin drugs from it may reduce potential side effects while still retaining the specific killing of target cancers.