engleski

Human cervical carcinoma cell response to whole bee venom treatment in vitro

Bee venom (Apis mellifera) is a complex mixture that comprises more than 18 active substances all having different pharmacological properties. Bee venom exhibits a diversity of beneficial effects, among them the antitumor activity. Role of bee venom as an anticancer agent has been studied for several years, especially in Oriental medicine, but large interest for this natural compound is also taken in the Western medicine in the past few years. In the present study using human cervical carcinoma HeLa cell line we aimed to investigate the cell response to whole bee venom and the mode of its action in vitro. Following the treatment with whole bee venom, HeLa cells displayed dose dependent cytotoxicity which was evaluated using spectrophotometric MTT assay. Additionally, bee venom altered morphological characteristics of treated cells as determined by light and fluorescent microscopy. Morphological features were rounded and granulated morphology, cell shrinkage and eventual detachment from the culture plates. Their fast staining with ethidium bromide (within one hour of treatment) suggests that bee venom induced necrotic type of cell death. In accordance, Western blot analysis did not show cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Following a combined treatment with chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin, which is one of the most effective and commonly used agents for the treatment of a wide spectrum of tumours, whole bee venom exhibited additive effect. This could be useful from the point of minimizing cisplatin concentration for the anticancer activity. Our data, in accordance with other accumulating evidence on anti-proliferative and pro-death activity of whole bee venom, indicate its possible use in anticancer therapy.

Bee venom; Human cervical carcinoma cells; Cytotoxicity; Cell death; Cisplatin

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