Research Updates: Can Bee Venom Treat Cancer?

Viral posts circulating on social media have recently begun to claim that “honeybee venom can 100% cure cancer in minutes”. While it’s true that early research on bee venom components have shown promising results in showcasing their anti-cancer effects, research in this area still remains nascent.

Bee venom is a defensive substance secreted by worker bees, which helps protect them from predators. It’s a liquid mostly made of water, and contains a mixture of proteins, enzymes and bioactive compounds (e.g. melittin).

While bee products (e.g. honey, propolis) have been used for their therapeutic properties for thousands of years, studies on bee venom have only now started to pick up.

Bee venom is injected into targets through a stinger, and may trigger inflammation and kickstart an immune reaction. Although it is toxic, humans can still tolerate small amounts of bee venom. The lethal dose for an adult is about 2.8 mg of venom per kilogram of body weight, while a single bee only has 0.15 to 0.30 mg of venom.

So far, laboratory research has found that bee venom is able to trigger cell death and reduces the spread of some types of cancer cells.

One of the key components of bee venom is melittin, a peptide that’s been found to help kill cancer cells, according to several preclinical studies. Beyond its cancer-killing properties, it’s also able to help reduce the resistance of some tumors to chemotherapy.

However, while promising, most of the research on bee venom components remains in the early stages. More detailed research on the safety and effectiveness of bee venom compounds in cancer treatment is required, as well as further testing in clinical trials. Currently, bee venom is not used in any approved treatments for cancer.