Bee products have long been used in traditional medicine. The raw materials, crude extracts and purified active compounds from them have been found to exhibit interesting bioactivities, such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. In addition, they have been widely used in the treatment of many immune-related diseases, as well as in recent times in the treatment of tumors. Bee product peptides induce apoptotic cell death in vitro in several transformed (cancer) human cell lines, including those derived from renal, lung, liver, prostate, bladder and lymphoid cancers. These bioactive natural products may, therefore, prove to be useful as part of a novel targeted therapy for some types of cancer, such as prostate and breast cancer. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the in vivo and in vitro potential of selective bee products against tumor cells.

Bee products have long been used in traditional medicine. The raw materials, crude extracts and purified active compounds from them have been found to exhibit interesting bioactivities, such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. In addition, they have been widely used in the treatment of many immune-related diseases, as well as in recent times in the treatment of tumors. Bee product peptides induce apoptotic cell death in vitro in several transformed (cancer) human cell lines, including those derived from renal, lung, liver, prostate, bladder and lymphoid cancers. These bioactive natural products may, therefore, prove to be useful as part of a novel targeted therapy for some types of cancer, such as prostate and breast cancer. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding the in vivo and in vitro potential of selective bee products against tumor cells.