Posted: September 9, 2020
The honeybee extracts were found to be “extremely potent”, said Ciara Duffy, a 25-year-old PhD researcher who led the study.
According to new breaking news via the BBC, “Australian scientists say the venom from honeybees has been found to destroy aggressive breast cancer cells in a lab setting.”
Excerpts from the BBC article below:
It tested venom from over 300 honeybees and bumblebees.
The honeybee extracts were found to be “extremely potent”, said Ciara Duffy, a 25-year-old PhD researcher who led the study.
One concentration of the venom was found to kill cancer cells within an hour, with minimal harm to the other cells. But the toxicity increased for other dosage levels.
On Wednesday, Western Australia’s chief scientist described the research as “incredibly exciting”.
“It provides another wonderful example of where compounds in nature can be used to treat human diseases.”But the researchers warn more work is needed to see if the venom could actually work on scale as a cancer-fighting drug.
