Antibacterial resistance has become a challenging situation worldwide. The increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens stresses the need for developing alternative or complementary antimicrobial strategies, which has led the scientific community to study substances, formulas or active ingredients used before the antibiotic era. Honey has been traditionally used not only as a food, but also with therapeutic purposes, especially for the topical treatment of chronic-infected wounds. The intrinsic characteristics and the complex composition of honey, in which different substances with antimicrobial properties are included, make it an antimicrobial agent with multiple and different target sites in the fight against bacteria. This, together with the difficulty to develop honey-resistance, indicates that it could become an effective alternative in the treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, against which honey has already shown to be effective. Despite all of these assets, honey possesses some limitations, and has to fulfill a number of requirements in order to be used for medical purposes.

Melittin (MLT), also known as allergen Api m4 (Hossen et al., 2017), is the main compound of BV, comprising approximately 40-60% of its dry weight. MLT (together with apamin) has been reported to be found only in bee venom produced by the genus Apis (Moreno and Giralt, 2015). It is a linear, amphipathic, cationic and a-helical polypeptide molecule composed of 26 amino acid residues and is soluble in water (Silva et al., 2015; Kachel et al., 2018). Recent studies provided evidence on several biological properties of MLT (Table 1). MLT has been reported to be a very potent anti-inflammatory agent, being 100 times more potent than hydro-cortisol in animal models (Vick and Shipman, 1972; Eze et al., 2016). The antiinflammatory activity of this compound has been explored in several settings, including acne vulgaris, neuro inflammation, atherosclerosis, arthritis and liver inflammation (Lee and Bae, 2016).

Over the years, many biological and synthetic agents have been explored and tested in attempts to halt the spread of cancer and/or cure it. Currently, several natural compounds have and are being considered in this regard. For example, paclitaxel is a potent anticancer drug that originates from the tree Taxus brevifolia. Paclitaxel has several derivatives, namely, docetaxel and cabazitaxel. These agents work by disrupting microtubule assembling dynamics and inducing cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, ultimately triggering apoptosis. Such features have helped to establish paclitaxel as an authoritative therapeutic compound against neoplastic disorders. After the completion of compound (hemi) synthesis, this drug received approval for the treatment of solid tumors either alone or in combination with other agents. In this review, we explore the mechanisms of action of paclitaxel and its derivatives, the different formulations available, as well as the molecular pathways of cancer resistance, potential risks, and other therapeutic applications. In addition, the role of paclitaxel in hematological malignancies is explored, and potential limitations in the therapeutic use of paclitaxel at the clinical level are examined. Furthermore, paclitaxel is known to cause increased antigen presentation. The immunomodulatory potential of taxanes, alone or in combination with other pharmacologic agents, is explored. Despite terpene-alkaloids derivatives’ anti-mitotic potential, the impact of this class of drugs on other oncogenic pathways, such as epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and the epigenetic modulation of the transcription profile of cancer cells, is also analyzed, shedding light on potential future chemotherapeutic approaches to cancer.