Bee venom protects against pancreatic cancer via inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis with suppression of cell migration.

Background: Pancreatic cancer seriously threatens human health. Bee venom is a mixture of enzymes, peptides, and amines. Due to its biological activity, bee venom is widely used as an anti-inflammatory agent and pain reliever. However, little is known about the effect of bee venom on pancreatic cancer.

Methods: Firstly, the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was conducted to analyze the cytotoxicity of bee venom on PANC-1 and AsPC-1 cells. Then, we evaluated the cell cycle and apoptosis by flow cytometry and the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) assay. In addition, cell migration was analyzed by the cell scratch test and Transwell assay. Western blot was performed to assess the expression of proteins involved in the regulation of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.

Results: Results demonstrated that bee venom significantly suppressed cell proliferation via inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis with suppression of cell migration. Bee venom induced S phase arrest and ameliorated the protein expression of cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). At the same time, bee venom can activate the p53-p21 pathway. Experimental data also showed that bee venom induced cell apoptosis and impeded cell migration.

Conclusions: The present study revealed that bee venom could effectively inhibit tumor progression in pancreatic cancer cells, indicating the possibility of bee venom as an anti-tumor drug in pancreatic cancer.