The properties in the venom that destroy cancer cells
can have the same effect on healthy cells — much
in the same way, chemotherapy causes cell damage
and painful side effects, while treating cancer.
But Pan’s lab has developed a technique to separate out the important proteins and peptides in the venom so they can be used to stop cancer cell growth.
His lab has found a way to synthesize these helpful cells.” Since it’s synthetic, there’s no ambiguity” in what the substance contains, Pan said. The synthetic material is then delivered to cancer cells using nanotechnology. In “camouflaging the whole toxin as a part of the nanoparticle,” Pan said, it bypasses healthy cells and is attracted to only the cancer cells. In other words, it’s so tightly packed into the nanoparticle it doesn’t leak out and cause other problems.
Attached to the cancer cells, these nanoparticles with the synthesized venom can either slow down or stop cancer cell growth and may ultimately stop cancer from spreading.
Particles in bee venom seem to specifically stop the cancer stem cells. “That’s what we are interested in — those are the cells responsible for metastasizing and also responsible for having the cancer cells grow back,” Pan said.
“If we can target better using this technique, we potentially have better cancer treatment. Unlike chemotherapy, this would target in theory, and only affect cancer cells. If it is successful, this natural agent found in Venom could become the basis for a whole legion of cancer-fighting drugs.
Pan’s research builds on a growing body of scientific research that has
shown toxins in the venom can fight cancer cells without harming healthy cells.
For example, Dr. Samuel Wickline at Washington University in
St. Louis helped develop “nanobees” that are also being tested to see if they can deliver a synthesized version of the toxin found in bee venom to cancer cells in prostate cancer. Next Pan’s lab will try the synthesized venom and nanotechnology combination on cancer cells in rats and pigs.
If successful, they’ll then try the technique on humans.
He predicts that step could happen in the next three to five years. Mahalo and I hope you share, all my blogs because we need to save not only ourselves but saving our pollinators from extinction can hold the key to life itself and so many cures.
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