Cytotoxic Effect of Bee (<i>A. mellifera</i>) Venom on Cancer Cell Lines
Sima Khalilifard Borojeni, Hossein Zolfagharian, Mahdi Babaie, Iraj Javadi
Abstract
Objectives: Nowadays cancer treatment is an important challenge in the medical world that needs better therapies. Many active secretions produced by insects such as honey bees used to discover new anticancer drugs. Bee venom (BV) has a potent anti inflammatory, anti cancer and tumor effects. The aim of present study is evaluation of anticancer effects induced by Apis mellifera venom (AmV) on cell Lines. Methods: AmV was selected for study on cancer cell lines. Total protein, molecular weight and LD 50 of crude venom were determined. Then, cells were grown in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% antibiotics. The A 549 , HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cell Lines were exposed by different concentration of AmV. The morphology of cells was determined and cell viability was studed by MTT assay. Evaluation of cell death was determined by and DNA fragmentation. Results: The results from MTT assay showed that 3.125 g/mL of A 549 , 12.5 for HeLa and 6.25 g/mL of MDA-MB-231 killed 50% of cells (p < 0.05). Morphological analysis and the results from hoescht staining and DNA fragmentation indicated that cell death induced by AmV was significantly apoptosis.