Bee venom has special pharmacological activity through its complex protein
structure which contains enzymes and peptides. Melittin is the bee venom’s
major component constituting about 50% of its content. Recent studies
showed that bee venom has a huge impact in the treatment of tumors due to
synergistic antitumor effect of bee venom melittin and phospholipase A2.
Propolis is a substance produced by bees from the resin collected from trees
and act as an anticancer agent. The major antitumor activity of propolis
depends on its main components CAPE and chrysin. This study aimed at
estimating the anti-cancer potentials of Propolis, Egyptian and Georgian bee
venom on breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and Lung cancer cell line A549. The
Egyptian bee venom showed higher toxicity on both cells than the Georgian
bee venom. After the 24 hr treatment with Egyptian bee venom and Propolis,
the results showed significance inhibitory effects on cells proliferation and
induced morphological changes. The gene expression level of pro-apoptotic
gene as p53 and anti-apoptotic gene as Bcl-2 were examined in both cell
lines after 24 hr of treatment. Data recorded revealed that treatment with bee
venom and Propolis showed clear anticancer potentials based on the up /
down regulation of pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic gene.
