Gastric cancer has a poor prognosis; once cancer has metastasized, it can easily lead to patient death. Melittin is one of the major components extracted from the bee venom. It has been shown that melittin emerges antitumor activities against many human cancer cell lines. Our results indicated that melittin at 0.2-0.5 µm significantly reduced total cell viability in human gastric cancer AGS cells. At low concentrations (0.05-0.15 µm), melittin displayed antimetastasis effects and inhibited cell adhesion and colony formation. Besides, it inhibited cell motility and suppressed cell migration and invasion. Melittin inhibited the activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and the integrity of cell membrane in AGS cells. Furthermore, Western blotting results showed that melittin decreased the protein expressions of Wnt/BMP and MMP-2 signaling pathways. Based on these observations, melittin inhibited cell migration and invasion of AGS cells through multiple signaling pathways. It may be used to treat metastasized gastric cancers in the future.

中文翻译：

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蜂毒肽通过调节 Wnt/BMP 相关通路抑制人胃癌 AGS 细胞的上皮间质转化和转移。

胃癌预后不良；一旦癌症发生转移，很容易导致患者死亡。蜂毒肽是从蜂毒中提取的主要成分之一。已经表明蜂毒肽对许多人类癌细胞系具有抗肿瘤活性。我们的结果表明，0.2-0.5 µm 的蜂毒肽显着降低了人胃癌 AGS 细胞的总细胞活力。在低浓度 (0.05-0.15 µm) 下，蜂毒肽显示出抗转移作用并抑制细胞粘附和集落形成。此外，它还抑制细胞运动，抑制细胞迁移和侵袭。蜂毒肽抑制 AGS 细胞中 MMP-2 和 MMP-9 的活性和细胞膜的完整性。此外，Western印迹结果显示蜂毒肽降低了Wnt/BMP和MMP-2信号通路的蛋白表达。基于这些观察，蜂毒肽通过多种信号通路抑制 AGS 细胞的细胞迁移和侵袭。未来可用于治疗转移性胃癌。