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Review
. 2020 Jul 11;12(7):451.
doi: 10.3390/toxins12070451.

Antimicrobial Properties of Apis mellifera's Bee Venom

Hesham El-Seedi  1   2   3   4 , Aida Abd El-Wahed  4   5 , Nermeen Yosri  4   6 , Syed Ghulam Musharraf  7 , Lei Chen  8 , Moustafa Moustafa  9 , Xiaobo Zou  6 , Saleh Al-Mousawi  9 , Zhiming Guo  6 , Alfi Khatib  10   11 , Shaden Khalifa  2
Affiliations
Review

Antimicrobial Properties of Apis mellifera's Bee Venom

Hesham El-Seedi et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Bee venom (BV) is a rich source of secondary metabolites from honeybees (Apis mellifera L.). It contains a variety of bioactive ingredients including peptides, proteins, enzymes, and volatile metabolites. The compounds contribute to the venom's observed biological functions as per its anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects. The antimicrobial action of BV has been shown in vitro and in vivo experiments against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The synergistic therapeutic interactions of BV with antibiotics has been reported. The synergistic effect contributes to a decrease in the loading and maintenance dosage, a decrease in the side effects of chemotherapy, and a decrease in drug resistance. To our knowledge, there have been no reviews on the impact of BV and its antimicrobial constituents thus far. The purpose of this review is to address the antimicrobial properties of BV and its compounds.

Keywords: antimicrobial properties; apamin; bee venom; melittin; phospholipase A2 (PLA2).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structure and amino acids sequence of bioactive peptides from bee venom as antimicrobial agents.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Possible inhibitory mechanisms of bee venom against a variety of viruses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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