BACKGROUND Diabetes is an important disease. This disease is a metabolic disorder characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from perturbation in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Honey bee venom contains a wide range of polypeptide agents. The principle components of bee venom are mellitin and phospholipase A(2). These components increase insulin secretion from the β-cells of pancreas. ...

Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease of an unknown origin, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) can be triggered by numerous stimuli. Bee venom therapy is an alternative therapy that is believed to be effective for various kinds of arthritis. We present here a case of a 49-year-old female who experienced a new onset lupus after undergoing bee venom therapy, and this looked like a case of an...

Bee venom acupuncture has been widely used in Oriental medicine with limited evidence of effectiveness. Most of the complications due to bee venom acupuncture are local or systemic allergic reactions. However, serious medical and neurological complications have also been reported. We herein describe the treatment of a 68-year-old woman who developed progressive quadriplegia 10 days after receiv...

Introduction: In diabetes therapy, a great attention is paid on lowering blood glucose levels and lipid regulating mechanisms of various medical agents including animal toxins. Honey bee venom reduces blood glucose level through increased insulin secretion and glucose take-up. It also has lipid regulating activity verified in several other studies. For that reason, bee venom could be considered...

The 2.0 angstroms crystal structure of a complex containing bee-venom phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and a phosphonate transition-state analogue was solved by multiple isomorphous replacement. The electron-density map is sufficiently detailed to visualize the proximal sugars of the enzyme's N-linked carbohydrate and a single molecule of the transition-state analogue bound ot its active center. Althoug...

OBJECTIVE At present, no reliable in vitro test is available to monitor the success of specific venom immunotherapy (VIT) in preventing insect venom anaphylaxis. We investigated usefulness of the basophil activation test (BAT) in predicting the outcome of sting challenge in bee venom-allergic patients after VIT. PATIENTS AND METHODS Twenty-one patients with bee venom anaphylaxis at the end of...

Bee venom is a complex mixture of proteins (enzymes and peptides) with unique pharmacological activities. The main enzymes in bee venom are hyaluronidase and phopholiphase A2. Melittin in high concentrations also has caused hemolysis of red blood cells. This study was conducted to evaluate effects of honeybee venom on hematological characteristics of albino rats. Rats were divided in 3 groups v...