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Review

A Review on Wasp Venom as a Chemotherapeutic Agent in Different Types of Cancer

Arige Sirisha2, Rama Rao Vadapalli1★, Penmatsa Srinidhi2, Bathula Mahalakshmi2, Muchakarla Sri Yagna2, Kanuri Teja2, T. Sowmya Sri1★ Corresponding author

  1. 1Department of Pharmaceutics, Shri Vishnu College of Pharmacy (Autonomous), Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.
  2. 2Department of Pharm D, Shri Vishnu College of Pharmacy (Autonomous), Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.

CORRESPONDENCE

Rama Rao Vadapalli

M. Pharm Ph.D, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, Shri Vishnu College of Pharmacy (Autonomous), Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA.

vadapalli26@gmail.com

Received: 19-08-2025; Revised: 09-10-2025; Accepted: 24-12-2025.

Volume 16, Issue 2 · pp. 398–404 · PUBLISHED Apr-Jun 2026 · DOI: 10.5530/ijpi.20260341

View on IJPI original site ↗

ABSTRACT

Cancer is the most leading cause of the death. Only few treatment options are available for treating the cancer such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. These treatment options can either used as single or combination therapies. Explorations of new drugs have been advanced to combat difficulties to treat cancers. New drug developments from natural biological resources are available all over the world. There are several active principles that are produced by different animals, plants and microorganisms that have been used in the development of novel drugs to combat diseases one of which is having great potential as anti-tumor agents. Wasp venom is a new productive solution that helps in treating cancers. Venoms of wasps are multifaceted mixtures of pharmacologically and biochemically functional elements like biogenic amines, peptides and proteins have been studied. Mastoparan is a selective and potent anticancer peptide. Researchers have developed a novel therapy using peptides derived from wasp venom that binds to several amino acids and show potential in cancer treatment. These peptides form pores on the cell plasma membrane and get penetrate the cell, resulting in lysis and finally causing to death. Numerous bioactive constituents were recognized from wasp venom. These peptides exhibited anticancer, antimicrobial activities against bacteria and fungi. This paper delves into recent progress in bioactive peptides and examines the prospects of utilizing wasp venom as a chemotherapeutic agent for treating variety of cancers.

KEYWORDS

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FULL TEXT

INTRODUCTION

Cancer ranks among the most prevalent diseases, and it is the second leading cause of the death (World Health Organization Cancer Https://WwwWhoInt/News-Room/Fact-Sheets/Detail/Cancer, 2022 Google Scholar - Yahoo India Search Results, n.d.). There are different sorts of cancers such as skin cancer, malignant melanoma, breast cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. Skin cancer is utmost common malignant disease (Bastos et al., 2024). From past 5 years death rates of cancer have been decreased by 1.8% in men’s and 1.4% in women’s is observed. Despite this progress, cancer leftovers a significant health concern, being the second leading cause of death. Only few treatment options are available for treating cancer such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgery these treatment options can either be used as single or combination therapies (Knight et al., 2021; Roy and Li, 2016). These few treatment options underscore the urgent need for improvements in cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment. Anti-Cancer Peptides (ACPs) present a promising, yet underutilized, resource that could serve as effective adjunctive therapies in cancer treatment (Siegel et al., 2015). A variety of novel treatments are under investigation and clinical trials. Explorations of new drugs have been advanced to combat difficulties to treat cancers. Wasp venom is a new productive solution that helps in treating cancers and that can impact biological system in many ways like cell lysis, hemolysis, rhabdomylosis etc., (Zhong et al., 2021a). Mastoparan is a selective and potent anticancer peptide that is rich in hydrophobic and basic residues that favours electrostatic interactions and this peptide insertion into membrane interact directly with G-proteins and causing the membrane destabilization and lysis (Brigatte et al., 2011; Higashijima et al., 1988; Knight et al., 2021; Leite et al., 2011; Rotem et al., 2006).

WASP VENOM

Vespid wasps (Family: Vespidae have a global distribution and occur in over 5000 species worldwide. Wasp venom contains broad spectrum of chemical constituents such as proteins, peptides (ex: mastoparan) and enzymes like hyaluronidase, phospholipases). The separated moieties from the venom had revealed several beneficiary activities like antimicrobial activity, anticancer activity, and anti-inflammatory activity. However, the levels of these peptides are scarce. Solid phase Peptides Synthesis (SPSS) is used in the design and development of such molecules. Through this technology several peptides and their analogues have been synthesised such as antimicrobial peptides such as mastoparan, anoplin, decoralin, polybia-MP-1, Polybia- CP, polydim-1 and agelaia-MP. Antimicrobial and anticancer properties were noted for the synthetic peptides.

BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF WASP VENOM

Numerous Studies on wasp venom and its mechanism of action have been conducted over the past 50 years. Nevertheless, additional experiments are required to bridge knowledge gaps and establish quality control measures to better understand the biological properties of wasp venom shown in Figure 1. According to this study the biological properties of wasp venoms are listed as anticoagulant, antiinflammation, antineoplastic and antimicrobial. The Separation and characterization of venom components are dynamic for comprehending the envenoming process. These steps help to identify specific toxins, their mode of action, and their effects on biological systems. By thoroughly analysing these components, researchers can develop targeted treatments and antidotes, ultimately improving clinical outcomes for acerbating cases (Figure ).

Figure 1: Biological properties of wasp venom.

Bioactive peptides from wasp venom: Unveiling pharmacological and medical prospects

Considering the intricacy and range of venom components it stands as promising source for novel therapeutic molecules. As we know, substantial numbers of modern-day treatments are derived from natural products. Therapeutic potentials like toxins which include catatonic peptides namely mastoparan and its analogues that show important potency as antimicrobial and antineoplastic agents. Even though some of the potent therapeutic molecules are discovered, there is a need to explore vespa toxins further. Figure 2 shows the pharmacological properties of bioactive peptides in wasp venom

Figure 2: Pharmacological properties of bioactive peptides in wasp venom.

COMPONENTS OF WASP VENOM

Wasp venom is composed of a diverse array of biomolecules that have therapeutic potential, playing key roles in vital activities essential for the wasps’s survival. Wasp venom contains small peptides, proteins and small molecules as represented in Figure 3. Small peptides like neurotoxic peptides, kinins, mastoparans and chemotactic peptides. Whereas proteins like hyaluronidase, phospholipase and antigen. Many neurotoxins had been isolated from wasp venom some of them like bradykinin related to peptides, pompilidotoxins, philanthotoxins, and microbracotoxin.

Figure 3: Components of wasp venom.
Figure 4: Cytotoxic impacts on melanoma cells (Bastos et al., 2024).

WASP VENOM IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANCER

Wasp Venom in Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer, one of the third typical type with high mortality rate (Sung et al., 2021). Only 5% of the patients are responsive to the existing therapy (ex: FOLFOX-a combination drug; used as first line treatment for the colorectal rectal cancer). Mutations in the tumor genes and the development of new antigens create barriers for potent immunotherapy of colorectal cancer. Oncolytic approach is a better healing approach by inducing antigenic substances, but it has been restricted due to its structural instability, unwanted toxicity when taken systemically. To overcome this, according to the wasp venom peptide an optimised oncolytic peptide MP9 had been developed by integrating four functional motifs (Lu et al., 2022). There are two different toxins of Polybia mastoparan (Polybia-MP-II and Polybia-MP-III) which is mentioned in the Table 1, and their activities are analysed by performing Mast cell degranulation, release of LDH from mast cells, hemolysis, and antimicrobial activity (de Souza et al., 2009). Polybia peptide is related to antibiotic peptide evolving from Polybia paulista. It has been also noticed that Polybia-MP has cell selectivity (Wang et al., 2008). Mastoparan acts on mitochondrial membrane to regulate the tumor cell cytotoxicity. The study suggested that adminstration of mastoparan via peritumoral way increases the survival (Moreno and Giralt, 2015).

Table 1: Comparison of different types of bee sources and the peptide involved that shows anticancer property.
Types of cancerBee sourcesPeptideActivityReferences
Bladder and Prostate cancerPolybiapaulistaPolybia MPICytotoxicity against leukemic T lymphocytes(de Souza et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2008)
Bladder and Prostate cancerProtopolybiaexíguaMastoporan-1Inhibition Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) mRNA, suppressionTNF-α and interleukin-6 (IL-6)(Moreno & Giralt, 2015)
Breast cancerChartergellus communisChartergellus-CP1significant decrease of cells at the G0/G1 phase from 52.8% to 36.2%(Soares et al., 2022)
Breast cancerbee venomMelittin (combining melittin with plasma-treated phosphate-buffered saline (PT-PBS)nonspecific cytotoxicity and hemolysis(Kwon et al., 2022)
Lung cancerSigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA)mastoparanmembranolytic anti-tumor activity(Alhakamy et al., 2021)
Lung cancerALS-MP nanoconjugates based on the Box-Behnken experimental designAlendronate sodium (ALS)-mastoparan peptide (MP)(Alhakamy et al., 2022)

Wasp Venom in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the utmost occurrence cancer in women. The anticancer therapy which is existing developing resistance. The main difficulty is development of resistance to therapeutic strategies; therefore, development of new therapeutic strategies provides more effective anticancer treatment (Hassan et al., 2010). About 1 in 8 U.S. women (around 12%) will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. The main treatment options include Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone manipulation for breast cancer. Here in this study, we demonstrate that both a natural Antimicrobial Peptide (AMP) derived from wasp venom as well as its synthetic variants designed via the peptide design, exhibits effective activity counter to cancer cells (Torres et al., 2018). In the study of cancer, wasp venom as an anticancer agent shows promising results. Chatergellus-CP1 shows cytotoxicity depending on the concentration (Soares et al., 2022). Natural products like toxins can damage other living organisms in the concept of neoplastic diseases, they also trigger apoptosis in cancer cells (Kwon et al., 2022).

In this follow up, venoms of different arthropods have been proved for potential anticancer substances. Chlortoxin, a scorpion toxin that is active against glioblastoma commonly found in brain cancer, Melittin that is obtained from different bee species that activity against gastric and liver cancer cell lines (Kong et al., 2016; Mansour et al., 2021). Wasp venom is composed of different combinations of biologically active components (Moreno and Giralt, 2015), they have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activity (El-Wahed et al., 2021). They yield excellent outcomes. The surface of the cancer cell membrane has negatively charged molecules. To exploit the negatively charged membrane, it can be targeted with positively charged molecules, and this is based on electrostatic interaction of the peptides (Chiangjong et al., 2020; Deslouches and Peter Di, 2017). Mastoparan, a wasp venom peptide robust anti-neoplastic effects against leukemia, myeloma and breast cancer and it is also active against drug-resistant cells that had arisen during anticancer treatment of patients and delicately growing cancer cells (Hilchie et al., 2016). There are some Anticancer Peptides (ACP) that can be applied as new adjuvant therapy. Direct acting anti-cancer peptides can totally remove primary tumors without affecting the healthy cells or tissues (Hansel et al., 2007). The major reason for developing these ACPs is noted to be that the existing ACPs are toxic towards the normal cells. Therefore, the novel Anti-Cancer Peptide had been developing to kill the selective cancer cells (Hilchie et al., 2011; Hilchie et al., 2013). Mastoparan peptide has been observed to be a lethal to leukaemia, myeloma, breast cancer cells and also moving to multidrug resistant cancer cells. By subsequent analysis Mastoparan has shown toxicity towards human Tcell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Acute Monocytic Leukemia, Myeloma cells, Breast cancer cells, 4T1 mouse mammary carcinoma cells, prostate, cervical and ovarian cancer cells. To identify its therapeutic potential mouse model of mammary carcinoma was used. It had been treated with gemcitabine along with mastoparan, by considering the tumor size they had concluded the synergistic interaction between mastoparan and gemcitabine.

Wasp Venom in Lung Cancer

Lung cancer has low life expectancy. There is a study of development of nanoformulation of Fluvastatin with mastoparan. Mastoparan is a peptide that is found in the wasp venom and has anti-tumor activity. It has been conjugated with a substance called galanin in order to design a cell penetrating peptide. Now a days the targeting of drugs only to the tumor cells has emerged as the best approach, as they reduce the systemic toxicity of antineoplastic drugs (Ray et al., 2010; Sawant et al., 2013). Nanocomplex is to improve cytotoxicity (Hussain et al., 2020). In this they had two major perspectives to be followed. Firstly, the chemical nature of compounds for conjugation and secondly anti-tumor activity against the tumor cells (Alhakamy et al., 2021). Fluvastatin also has the same activity of suppression of tumor cells. Development of nanocomplex Fluvastatin with Mastoparan have apoptic activity (Alhakamy et al., 2021). This advancement in nanotechnology helps in delivering the chemotherapeutic agents at the targeted sites shows higher level of activity (Alhakamy et al., 2022).

Wasp Venom in Skin Cancer (malignant melanoma)

Malignant Melanoma is a multifactorial disease due to UV exposure, environment and hereditary (Melanoma: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Classification - PubMed, n.d.). The rising incidence of cancer leads to the development of innovative compounds for better effective treatment. This research study had been stimulated to face hard to treat cancer (Zhong et al., 2021b). The antitumor potential of venom has been highlightened through different examples. (Hammouda et al., 2016). Wasp venoms can exert numerous effects on biological systems like cytolytic activity, rhabdomylosis etc., (Lopes et al., 2017). These cytolytic effects were analysed that includes cell cycle dynamics, ROS production and cell death (Bastos et al., 2024). Throughout the complex compounds of wasp venoms, the bioactive peptides mastoparans and chemotactic peptides are significant (Souza et al., 2005). This Chemotactic modulation has been used to improve cancer chemotherapy (Li et al., 2005). The antitumor potential of wasp venom is well documented in the cited literature (Silva et al., 2018; Azevedo et al., 2015; Perez-Riverol et al., 2017; Soares et al., 2022; Torres et al., 2018a, 2018b, 2020; Wang et al., 2008, 2009; Wu et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2010; Wu et al., 2021).

CONCLUSION

Here we reviewed the current understanding of wasp venom as treatment of cancer. Through this review we emphasized that wasp venom is used to treat different kinds of cancer namely breast cancer, colorectal cancer, skin cancer and lung cancer. Venoms of different arthropods have been proved for potential anticancer substances and concluded that Wasp venom is a new productive solution that helps in treating cancers. Wasp venoms hold significant therapeutic potential due to the bioactive peptides and proteins they contain, which have various medical applications. Each sting delivers a diverse array of chemical compounds, making wasp venom challenging yet promising therapeutic targets. By understanding the bioactivity of wasp venom molecules, we can enhance their medical applications. Moreover, a deeper comprehension of the structure, function, physiochemical properties, and pathology of these peptide and protein components is vital for rising more effective treatments for wasp venom will undoubtedly reveal new biological functions and lead to advancements in research, diagnosis and treatment eventually benefiting human health.

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Sirisha, A., Vadapalli, R. R., Srinidhi, P., Mahalakshmi, B., Yagna, M. S., Teja, K., & Sri, T. S. (2026). A Review on Wasp Venom as a Chemotherapeutic Agent in Different Types of Cancer. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation, 16(2), 398–404. https://doi.org/10.5530/ijpi.20260341