THURSDAY, Nov. 4, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- While bee venom has been touted for many years as an analgesic for arthritis sufferers, a new study has discovered just how it might work to make people feel better.
In animal studies conducted last year, doctors in South Korea found that melittin, the principal peptide in bee venom, blocks the expression of inflammatory genes that can cause painful tissue swelling in rheumatoid arthritis patients.
"The potency of melittin in the inhibition of the inflammatory response may be of great benefit in degenerative and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis," the authors wrote in their study, which appears in the November issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism.
For the study, researchers first studied rats treated to induce inflammatory arthritis. For rats with advanced rheumatoid arthritis, low doses of bee venom dramatically reduced tissue swelling as well as abnormal bony growth caused by the disease.
Next, researchers tested the anti-inflammatory effects of melittin on human synovial cells of arthritis patients. Synovial cells are those that line the joints, and which are vulnerable to inflammation among arthritis sufferers.
They found the melittin blocked the expression of the genes that cause the inflammation and pain suffered by arthritis patients. The melittin worked in a similar way to a class of drugs called cox-2 inhibitors, which are now used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and reduce inflammation, the scientists wrote.
The melittin also reduced the amount of nitric oxide in the synovial cells, the researchers found. This has potential palliative effects as well, because there is evidence that tissues affected by inflammatory arthritis produce large amounts of nitric oxide.
"Although further study is needed for determination of an effective dose, our data show that the anti-arthritic effects of bee venom are related to its anti-inflammatory effects," the authors wrote.
"This is an interesting study. The authors are claiming that bee venom actually causes a reduction in inflammatory response, which is counterintuitive, because a bee sting causes severe local inflammation, with swelling and edema," said Raymond Dingledine, chairman of the department of pharmacology at Atlanta's Emory School of Medicine.
Dingledine said it has been thought that the reason bee venom, which has been a folk medicine for arthritis for a long time, might have a soothing effect on arthritis is because when stung by a bee, the body produces cortisone to fight the local inflammation, and it was thought that the increase in cortisone could be easing the swelling of other tissue affected by arthritis.
But he said there haven't been controlled clinical trials to determine whether there really is a benefit, for the very practical reason that bee stings "hurt like crazy" and a study would have to create a placebo that would be equally painful.
Also, he added, there are other medications for arthritis (like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), as well as surgery, exercise and diet.
"However, there are people for whom standard treatments don't work, and this is a new idea for how bee venom might have anti-inflammatory advantages," he said.
Rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic disease and potentially debilitating disease mainly characterized by inflammation of the lining of the joints, affects approximately 2.1 million people in the United States, primarily women, according to the Arthritis Foundation.
More information
Learn about arthritis management from the National Institute on Aging.
