Breast cancer: Honeybee venom contain chemical wey dey kill breast cancer cells - Study
Australian scientists don find out say di venom from honeybees dey destroy aggressive breast cancer cells.
Dem use di venom - and one compound inside am wey dem call melittin - against two cancer types wey dey hard to treat: triple-negative and HER2-enriched. Dis discovery na something wey dem describe as "exciting", but scientists caution say dem still need more testing. Breast cancer na di most common cancer wey dey affect women around di world. While thousands of chemical compounds wey fit fight cancer cells inside lab setting dey, scientists say e get few wey dem fit produce as treatment for humans. Before now, dem don bin find out say Bee venom get anti-cancer properties for oda types of cancer like; melanoma. Di study from Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research inside Western Australia dey published inside Nature Precision Oncology, one peer-reviewed journal. Wetin di researchers find? Dem test venom from ova 300 honeybees and bumblebees. Dey come find out say di honeybee extracts dey "extremely potent", according to Ciara Duffy, wey be 25-year-old PhD researcher wey led di study. Di study find out say one concentration of di venom kill cancer cells within one hour, with little harm to di oda cells. But di toxicity increase for oda dosage levels. Dr Ciara Duffy na im lead di research Di researchers also find out say di melittin compound sef dey effective in "shutting down" or disrupting cancer cell growth. While melittin naturally dey inside honeybee venom, dem fit also produce am artificially. Traditionally, triple-negative breast cancer - one of di most aggressive types - dem dey treat am with surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. E account for 10-15% of breast cancers. Dem fit use dis in di future? On Wednesday, Western Australia chief scientist describe di research as "incredibly exciting". "Significantly, dis study show how melittin dey interfere with signalling pathways within breast cancer cells to reduce cell replication," Prof Peter Klinken tok. "E dey provide anoda wonderful example of wia dem fit use compounds inside nature to treat human diseases." But di researchers warn say dem need more work to see if di venom fit actually work on scale as cancer-fighting drug. Oda cancer researchers agree. "E dey very early days," according Associate Prof Alex Swarbrick, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. "Many compounds fit kill breast cancer cell inside dish or inside mouse. But e get long way to go from those discoveries to something wey fit change clinical practice," e tell BBC.