• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.27-36
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• 2013

Objectives : The focus of the analysis was laid on changes in research pertaining to bee venom in regards to time progression. Methods : We collected 365 articles on Bee venom study result from OASIS system using the Keyword 'bee venom, apitoxin, apitherapy, bee sting'. We figured out number and percentage of theses according to year, study method, journal, subject. Results : Bee venom papers published in the journal of korean medicine from 1976. The classification of papers associated with bee venom, clinical studies outnumbered the other study types by a ratio of 1.3 to 1, followed by 138 for experimental papers, and 22 for literature studies. Proportion of Experimental Papers Classified According to the Theme, 16 for pain-killing, 14 papers concentrated on apoptosis anticancer, 13 for anti inflammatory, 11 for arthritis, and other disorders were followed. Type analysis of papers associated with bee venom in clinical trials, lumbar disorders comprised 38 out of 205 papers, 35 papers concentrated on upper limb disorders, 34 papers concentrated on systemic disease, followed by the effect on body. Conclusions : Bee venom is a treatment method based on the unique theory of Korean traditional medicine. Its effort and academical approach on bee venom are expected to receive positive evaluation through numerous research works.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.557-560
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• 2005

Bee Venom acupuncture has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect that facilitates natural healing. So it is used in treatment of several musculoskeletal diseases. Recently, we experienced a case of De Quervain's disease that was not responded to steroid injection. It was successfully treated with intra-synovial Bee Venom acupuncture for two weeks. It is thought that Bee Venom acupuncture can be used in tenosynovitis. And Bee Venom injection techniques like intra-joint and subcutaneous method are need to be developed.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.98-111
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• 2003

Objective : This study was designed to analyze the effects of bee venom and melittin on cell death in neuroblastoma cell line. Methods : MTT assay, morphologic method, DNA fragmentation, flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry analysis, RT-PCR and Western blot were performed. Results : The obtained results are summarized as follows: 1. The MTT assay demonstrated that neuroblastoma cell viability was significantly inhibitted dose-dependently by treatment with bee venom and melittin in comparison with control. 2. Cell culture demonstrated that control group proliferated highestly at he 5th day in comparison with the 4th day in bee venom and melittin group. And in bee venom and melitti group cell proliferation decreased 2.5 times than control group. 3. The morphologic study demonstrated that neuroblastoma cell showed apoptosis after treatment with bee venom and melittin for 6 hours using microscope. 4. The Flow cytometry demonstrated that apoptosis of neuroblastoma cell treated with bee venom and melittin was related with stop of cell cycle in stage of $G_0/G_1$. 5 .DNA fragmenation demonstrated that neuroblastoma cell treated with bee venom and melittin showed DNA ladder below 1 Kbp. 6. Immunocytochemistry assay demonstrated that Fos and MAPK which are related with cancer were down-regulated by treatment with bee venom and melittin. 7. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that Fos and MAPK mRNA were transcripted. Fos was down-regulated form treatment with $5{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom and MAPK was down-regulated form $1{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom. 8. Western blot demonstrated that Fos was down-regulated from $1{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom whereas MAPK was expressed by $1{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom but down-regulated by $10{\mu}g/ml$ bee venom. Conclusions : We found that some cancer related genes ware down-regulated by treatment with bee venom and melittin. Further study is needed for investigating the anti-cancer effect of bee venom and melittin.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Oriental Medical Informatics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.49-56
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• 2005

Objectives To evaluate the treatment effect of Bee-venom Acupuncture on Neck Pain by Traffic Accidents, which is well known for anti-inflammatory effect and function of activating immune system. Methods We investigated 33 cases of patients with Neck Pain by Traffic Accidents by soft tissue injury. One group was treated by Bee-venom Acupuncture therapy, the other group was treated by General Acupuncture therapy . We evaluated the treatment effect of each group by Treatment Days & Number of Times, Distribution of Clinical evaluation grade, Visual Analog Scale before and after Treatment.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.236-242
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• 2004

Cerebral ischemia resulting from transient or permanent occlusion of cerebral arteries leads to neuronal cell death and eventually causes neurological impairments. Bee venom has been used for the treatment inflammatory disease. In the present study, the effects of bee venom on apoptosis and cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus following transient global ischemia in gerbils were investigated using immunohistochemistry for cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), caspase-3, and 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU). It was shown that apoptotic cell death and cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus were significantly increased following transient global ischemia in gerbils and that treatment of bee venom suppressed the ischemia-induced increase in apoptosis and cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus. The present results also showed that 1 mg/kg bee-venom treatment suppressed the ischemia-induced increasing apoptosis, cell proliferation, and COX-2 expression in the dentate gyrus. It is possible that the suppression of cell proliferation is due to the reduction of apoptotic cell death by treatment of bee venom. In the present study, bee venom was shown to prosses anti-apoptotic effect in ischemic brain disease, and this protective effect of bee venom against ischemia-induced neuronal cell death is closely associated with suppression on caspase-3 expression.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.212-219
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• 2020

Objectives: Nowadays cancer treatment is an important challenge in the medical world that needs better therapies. Many active secretions produced by insects such as honey bees used to discover new anticancer drugs. Bee venom (BV) has a potent anti inflammatory, anti cancer and tumor effects. The aim of present study is evaluation of anticancer effects induced by Apis mellifera venom (AmV) on cell Lines. Methods: AmV was selected for study on cancer cell lines. Total protein, molecular weight and LD50 of crude venom were determined. Then, cells were grown in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% antibiotics. The A549, HeLa and MDA-MB-231 cell Lines were exposed by different concentration of AmV. The morphology of cells was determined and cell viability was studed by MTT assay. Evaluation of cell death was determined by and DNA fragmentation. Results: The results from MTT assay showed that 3.125 ㎍/mL of A549, 12.5 for HeLa and 6.25 ㎍/mL of MDA-MB-231 killed 50% of cells (p < 0.05). Morphological analysis and the results from hoescht staining and DNA fragmentation indicated that cell death induced by AmV was significantly apoptosis. Conclusion: The data showed that using lower dosage of AmV during treatment period cause inhibition of proliferation in time and dose dependant manner. Findings indicated that some ingredients of AmV have anticancer effects and with further investigation it can be used in production of anticancer drugs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.1596-1600
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• 2007

Bee venom is used to treat inflammatory diseases in Korean traditional medicine and has been known to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in bee venom-induced apoptosis are still uncharacterized in human lung cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated the effects of bee venom on the apoptosis of A549 human lung epithelial cancer cells. Treatment of bee venom inhibited the cell viability and induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner as measured by hemocytometer counts, fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry analysis. Bee venom-induced apoptosis in A549 cells was associated with a marked inhibition of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression without significant changes in the levels of Bax and Bcl-xL. Bee venom treatment also inhibited the levels of IAP family members such as cIAP-1 and cIAP-2 and induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9. Although further studies are needed, the present results suggest that apoptotic signals evoked by bee vemon in A549 cancer cells may converge caspases activation through a down-regulation of Bcl-2 rather than an up-regulation of Bax. These findings provide important insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of bee vemon in human cancer cells.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.73-81
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• 2003

Objective : The study was performed to evaluate the effect of treatment for Osteoarthritis of knee joint by using Bee Venom Acupuncture that is well known for anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect. Methods: We investigated 50 cases of patient with Osteoarthritis of knee joint from 1st July 2001 to 31st December 2002, 50 cases of patient with Osteoarthritis in knee joint treated at the department of acupuncture & moxibustion of Kyung-Won University Oriental Hospital were randomly selected for two group. One group was treated by Bee Venom Acupuncture therapy, the other group was treated by Filiform Acupuncture therapy. We studied nine-point scale and improvement degree of the grade of clinical symptoms. Results: 1. In the results of treatment, 88% were above "Good" of Bee Venom Acupuncture and 68% in Filiform Acupuncture . 2. In the nine-point scale. Bee Venom Acupuncture was more effective than Filiform Acupuncture. 3. In the improvement degree of the grade of clinical symptoms. Bee Venom Acupuncture was more effective than Filiform Acupuncture. Conclusions: In the treatment of Osteoarthritis of knee joint. Bee Venom Acupuncture can be regarded as more effective treatment than Filiform Acupuncture in the clinical practice. This is expected to be available for clinical use.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.17-31
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• 2013

Objectives : Peripheral nerve injuries are commonly encountered clinical problems and often result in serve functional deficit. Bee venom and scolopendra subspinipes have been traditionally used in oriental medicine to treat several inflammatory diseases and chronic pain conditions. Methods : In the present study, the effects of bee venom pharmacopuncture and scolopendra subspinipes pharmacopuncture on functional recovery, severity of pain, and expressions of neurofilament, cycloxygenease-2(COX-2), and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$(TNF-${\alpha}$) following sciatic crushed nerve injury in rats were investigated. For this study, walking tract analysis, plantar test, western blot for COX-2 and TNF-${\alpha}$, and immunohistochemistry for neurofilament were performed. Results : In the present results, sciatic functional index(SFI) in walking tract analysis was significantly decreased following sciatic crushed nerve injury, and pain severity in plantar test was significantly increased. COX-2 and TNF-${\alpha}$ expressions were increased whereas neurofilament expression was decreased by sciatic crushed nerve injury. On the other hand, bee venom pharmacopuncture and scolopendra subspinipes pharmacopuncture improved SFI in walking tract analysis and suppressed the pain severity in sciatic crushed nerve injury. Bee venom pharmacopuncture and scolopendra subspinipes pharmacopuncture suppressed COX-2 and TNF-${\alpha}$ expression and enhanced the neurofilament expression in sciatic crushed nerve injury. Conclusions : In the present study, we have shown that treatment with bee venom or scolopendra subspinipes is the effective therapeutic modality to ameliorate the symptoms of sciatic crushed nerve injury. The efficacies of bee venom and scolopendra subspinipes were similar.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.2807-2811
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• 2015

Scorpion venom peptides recently have attracted attention as alternative chemotherapeutic agents that may overcome the limitations of current drugs, providing specific cytotoxicity for cancer cells with an ability to bypass multidrug-resistance mechanisms, additive effects in combination therapy and safety. In the present study, BmKn-2 scorpion venom peptide and its derivatives were chosen for assessment of anticancer activities. BmKn-2 was identified as the most effective against human oral squamous cells carcinoma cell line (HSC-4) by screening assays with an $IC_{50}$ value of $29{\mu}g/ml$. The BmKn-2 peptide killed HSC-4 cells through induction of apoptosis, as confirmed by phase contrast microscopy and RT-PCR techniques. Typical morphological features of apoptosis including cell shrinkage and rounding characteristics were observed in treated HSC-4 cells. The results were further confirmed by increased expression of pro-apoptotic genes such as caspase-3, -7, and -9 but decrease mRNA level of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 in BmKn-2 treated cells, as determined by RT-PCR assay. In summary, the BmKn-2 scorpion venom peptide demonstrates specific membrane binding, growth inhibition and apoptogenic activity against human oral cancer cells.