Synergistic effects induced by combined treatments of aqueous extract of propolis and venom

Abstract

Background and aimsBreast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered to be one of the most aggressive breast neoplasia due to failure of chemotherapy response. Thus, there is an urgent need of finding alternative therapies for TNBC. This study was designed to evaluate the synergistic effect induced by propolis and bee venom on luminal (MCF-7) and TNBC (Hs578T) cell lines.MethodsIn order to evaluate the synergistic effect of aqueous extract of propolis and bee venom, we treated in combination two breast cancer cell lines: MCF-7(luminal subtype) and Hs578T (TNBC subtype).ResultsOur results indicate that both cell lines exhibited similar sensitivity to the aqueous extract of propolis at a dilution of 0.072–0.09 mg/ml. The results concerning IC50 for bee venom on MCF-7 cells was 1 mg/ml, 20 times higher than 0.05 mg/ml in Hs578T cells. By combining the aqueous extract of propolis with bee venom, we obtained synergistic effects at a higher concentration, which was 5 and 2 times stronger than the two treatments alone.ConclusionOverall, the results from our study indicated that the combination of aqueous extract of propolis and bee venom treatments induced synergistic antiproliferative effects in a concentration-dependent manner in breast cancer cells. Thus we can hypothesize that the combination of honeybee propolis and venom might be involved in signaling pathways that could overcome cells resistance to therapy.

Can Bee Venom Be Used as Anticancer Agent in Modern Medicine?

“…The authors also point to the synergy of BV with cisplatin [57], hesperidin and piperine [60], 5-fluorouracil and fluphenazine [37]. BV or melittin, alone or in combination with above mentioned chemotherapeutic agents, induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells, showed antiproliferative activity, and inhibited cell migration [34,66,74]. Tetiko glu et al [28] indicate the genotoxicity of BV to both breast cancer cells and physiological cells by the interaction of phosphorylated H2A histone family member (XγH2AX) and β-actin.…”

Preliminary Study for Covid-19 Drug Discovery of 30 Phytochemical Compounds From Tetragonula Sp. Propolis as Pak1 Inhibitor Through Molecular Docking

“…This showed that the combination of propolis-honey had higher anti-microbial activity than those individually utilized. Drigla et al [29] also showed the synergistic effect of propolis with other ingredients, where compound combinations and bee venom had higher anti-proliferative activity in breast cancer cells. This indicated that there was a synergistic effect among the compounds present in propolis.…”

Apitherapy combination improvement of blood pressure, cardiovascular protection, and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory responses in dexamethasone model hypertensive rats

“…Furthermore, a combination of propolis and bee venom showed a marked curative effect on OS produced by gamma radiation in rats 33 . Additionally, a combination treatment consisting of aqueous extract of propolis and bee venom induced synergistic antiproliferative effects in breast cancer cells 34 . Other synergistic effects have been investigated involving using mixtures of honey, propolis, pollen, and RJ to mitigate the toxic effects of insecticides in rats 35 .…”