Nobody likes wasp. They’re not helpful like bees and they have painful stingers. However, wasp venom has proven to be very useful. Some recent studies have shown that wasp venom can kill cancer cells without damaging the healthy cells.
Wasp venom contains the cancer fighting toxin MP1 (Polybia MP1) which utilizes the atypical arrangement of lipids and fats in cancer cell membranes. The toxin enters through the weak points caused by the abnormal distribution and interacts with the lipids. The toxin then makes holes in the cancer cell membrane which causes protein leakage.
The wasp that produces this cancer killing toxin is called Polybia Paulista.
“Cancer therapies that attack the lipid composition of the cell membrane would be an entirely new class of anticancer drugs. This could be useful in developing new combination therapies, where multiple drugs are used simultaneously to treat a cancer by attacking different parts of the cancer cells at the same time,” explained Paul Beales co-author of the study and professor at the University of Leeds.
The inner layer of the healthy cell membranes is rich in phospholipids, PS (phosphatidylserine) and PE (phosphatidylethanolamine). On the other hand, PS and PE in cancer cell membranes are located on the outer layer. The scientists researched how MP1 interacted with the membranes infused with PS and PE. PS and PE had a really destructive effect on the cells.
“Formed in only seconds, these large pores are big enough to allow critical molecules such as RNA and proteins to easily escape cells. The dramatic enhancement of the permeabilization induced by the peptide in the presence of PE and the dimensions of the pores in these membranes was surprising,” explained João Ruggiero Neto from the São Paulo State University.
“Understanding the mechanism of action of this peptide will help in translational studies to further assess the potential for this peptide to be used in medicine. As it has been shown to be selective to cancer cells and non-toxic to normal cells in the lab, this peptide has the potential to be safe, but further work would be required to prove that,” said professor Beales.