Inhibitory Effect of Bee Venom Toxin on Lung Cancer NCI H460 Cells Growth Through Induction of Apoptosis via Death Receptor Expressions

Objectives : I investigated whether bee venom inhibit cell growth through enhancement of death receptor expressions in the human lung cancer cells, NCI-H460. Methods : Bee venom(1-5 μg/ml) inhibited the growth of NCI-H460 lung cancer cells by the induction of apoptotic cell death in a dose dependent manner. Results : Consistent with apoptotic cell death, expression of TNF-R1, TNF-R2, FAS, death receptors(DR) 3, 4, 5 and 6 was increased in the cells. Expression of DR downstream pro-apoptotic proteins including Caspase-8, -3, -9 was upregulated and Bax was concomitantly overwhelmed the expression of Bcl-2. NF-kB were inhibited by treatment with bee venom in NCI-H460 cells through TNF response change led by TNF-R1 and TNF-R2. Conclusions : These results suggest that bee venom should exert anti-tumor effect through induction of apoptotic cell death in NCI-H460 human lung cancer cells via enhancement of death receptor expression, and that bee venom could be a promising agent for preventing and treating lung cancer.