title: Synergistic Effects Induced by Combined Treatments of Aqueous Extract of Propolis and Venom.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered to be one of the most aggressive breast neoplasia due to failure of chemotherapy response. Thus, there is an urgent need of finding alternative therapies for TNBC. This study was designed to evaluate the synergistic effect induced by propolis and bee venom on luminal (MCF-7) and TNBC (Hs578T) cell lines.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to evaluate the synergistic effect of aqueous extract of propolis and bee venom, we treated in combination two breast cancer cell lines: MCF-7(luminal subtype) and Hs578T (TNBC subtype).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results indicate that both cell lines exhibited similar sensitivity to the aqueous extract of propolis at a dilution of 0.072-0.09 mg/ml. The results concerning IC50 for bee venom on MCF-7 cells was 1 mg/ml, 20 times higher than 0.05 mg/ml in Hs578T cells. By combining the aqueous extract of propolis with bee venom, we obtained synergistic effects at a higher concentration, which was 5 and 2 times stronger than the two treatments alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the results from our study indicated that the combination of aqueous extract of propolis and bee venom treatments induced synergistic antiproliferative effects in a concentration-dependent manner in breast cancer cells. Thus we can hypothesize that the combination of honeybee propolis and venom might be involved in signaling pathways that could overcome cells resistance to therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Genomics, Proteomics and Experimental Pathology, The Oncology Institute Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Department of Apiculture and Sericulture, Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Flaviu
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Drigla
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Genomics, Proteomics and Experimental Pathology, The Oncology Institute Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Ovidiu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Balacescu
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Genomics, Proteomics and Experimental Pathology, The Oncology Institute Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Department of Pathologic Anatomy, Necropsy and Veterinary Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Visan
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Toxicology, Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Simona Elena
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Bisboaca
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional Genomics, Proteomics and Experimental Pathology, The Oncology Institute Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Department of Immunology, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Research Center for Functional Genomics, Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Houston, Texas, USA, MD Anderson Cancer Center.
authors.forename: Ioana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Berindan-Neagoe
authors.affiliation: Department of Apiculture and Sericulture, Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnologies, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Liviu Alexandru
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Marghitas
keywords: apoptosis; breast cancer; propolis; venom