Melittin, an amphipathic 26-residue peptide, is the main component of honey bee venom. Studies have been demonstrated that melittin has an inhibitory effect on proliferation of cancer cells. However, the precise mechanism of action is not completely understood. In the present study we have shown that purified melittin from Iranian honey bee venom shows anti-cancer effects on human cervical cancer cell line through induction of apoptosis. The venom was collected from Iranian honey bee (Apis mellifera meda) and melittin isolated using reversed phase HPLC. Biological activity of melittin was analyzed by hemolytic test on human red blood cells. In order to investigate whether melittin inhibits proliferation of cervical cancer cells, the viability of the melittin treated HeLa cell line was measured via MTT assay. Finally, cell death analysis was performed using Propidum iodide and Annexin V-FITC dual staining. The results showed that the half hemolytic concentration (HD50) induced by mellitin was 0.5 µg/ml in free FBS solution. IC50 obtained after 12 h at 1.8 µg/ml by MTT assay. According to flow cytometric analysis, melittin induced apoptosis at concentrations more than 1 µg/ml. These results suggest that melittin induces apoptotic cell death in cervical cancerous cells as observed by flow cytometric assay. It is concluded that melittin could be regarded as a potential candidate in future studies to discovery of new anticancer agents.

中文翻译：

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从伊朗蜂毒中纯化的蜂毒肽对人宫颈癌 HeLa 细胞系的凋亡作用。

蜂毒肽是一种两亲性26残基肽，是蜜蜂毒液的主要成分。研究证明蜂毒肽对癌细胞的增殖具有抑制作用。然而，确切的作用机制尚不完全清楚。在本研究中，我们证明从伊朗蜂毒中纯化的蜂毒肽通过诱导细胞凋亡对人类宫颈癌细胞系具有抗癌作用。毒液是从伊朗蜜蜂 ( Apis mellifera meda ) 中收集的，并使用反相 HPLC 分离出蜂毒肽。通过人红细胞溶血试验分析蜂毒肽的生物活性。为了研究蜂毒肽是否抑制宫颈癌细胞的增殖，通过MTT法测定了蜂毒肽处理的HeLa细胞系的活力。最后，使用碘化丙啶和膜联蛋白 V-FITC 双重染色进行细胞死亡分析。结果显示，在游离FBS溶液中，蜂毒肽诱导的半溶血浓度(HD50)为0.5μg/ml。12 小时后通过 MTT 测定获得 1.8 µg/ml 的 IC50。根据流式细胞术分析，蜂毒肽浓度超过 1 µg/ml 时会诱导细胞凋亡。这些结果表明，通过流式细胞术检测发现，蜂毒肽可诱导宫颈癌细胞凋亡。结论是蜂毒肽可被视为未来研究中发现新抗癌药物的潜在候选者。