ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Toxicol.
Sec. Clinical Toxicology
A Comparison of Honeybee and Scorpion Venoms as Anticancer Agents Against three different cancer cell lines: Lung, Colon, and Breast Cancer
Provisionally accepted
Fatma Galal1*
Fahad M Alshammari1*
Abdulrahman S. Aldaghmi1Elsayed E. Hafez2
Ghada El-sayed3*Riyadh H Aeban4Saad A Alharb4- 1Jouf University, Sakakah, Saudi Arabia
- 2City of Scientific Research and Technological Applications, New Borg El-Arab City, Egypt
- 3National Research Centre., Cairo, Egypt
- 4Security Forces Hospital Program Makkah, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Owing to the drawbacks and adverse effects associated with conventional cancer therapies, there is growing interest in identifying effective natural alternatives. In this study, the anticancer potential of honeybee and scorpion venoms was evaluated using three human cancer cell lines: lung adenocarcinoma (A549), colon carcinoma (HCT-116), and breast adenocarcinoma (MDA-MB-231). The chemical composition, biological activity, and molecular interactions of both venoms with key cancer-related targets were investigated through gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), cytotoxicity assays, gene expression analysis, and molecular docking. GC-MS analysis revealed that scorpion venom was predominantly composed of methyl isocyanide, 3-butyn-1-ol, and allene, whereas honeybee venom was characterized by caprylic anhydride, 1,3,5-triazine derivatives, and palmitin as major bioactive constituents. Functional analyses demonstrated that both venoms modulated the expression of genes associated with apoptosis and other cancer-related pathways rather than inducing apoptosis directly. Notably, scorpion venom significantly downregulated the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2, whereas honeybee venom upregulated its expression, indicating distinct mechanisms of action. Scorpion venom exerted pronounced pro-apoptotic effects, while honeybee venom appeared to act primarily through immunomodulatory and anti-angiogenic pathways. Molecular docking analyses confirmed favorable interactions between venom-derived compounds and key molecular targets, including Bcl-2, Bax, p53, and VEGF, supporting their potential as multi-target anticancer agents. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that honeybee and scorpion venoms possess promising anticancer properties via distinct yet complementary mechanisms, with particular efficacy against lung and breast adenocarcinoma cell lines. The results highlight the potential of these venoms as natural candidates for the development of alternative anticancer therapeutics.
Keywords: Anticancer markers and molecular docking, Bee Venom, GC-MS, Gene Expression, Interleukins, scorpion venom
Received: 29 Nov 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Galal, Alshammari, Aldaghmi, Hafez, El-sayed, Aeban and Alharb. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Fatma Galal
Fahad M Alshammari
Ghada El-sayed
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.