Venom as possible cancer treatment

Venom from snakes, bees and scorpions contains proteins and peptides which, when separated from the other components, can attach to cancer cell membranes. That activity could potentially block the growth and spread of the disease.
Researchers are using nanoparticles as the delivery mechanism.
Human trials are 3-5 years away.

This link offers a bit more info and is void of the CNN.com ads / popups: Venom gets good buzz as potential cancer-fighter

The author of this study is Dipanjan Pan from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Here's his Bio: Dipanjan Pan, Assistant Professor & Director, MEng in Bioinstrumentation Program

These Venom therapies are years away for breast cancer, but they are interesting. Those who prefer unconventional approaches may enjoy reading the links I've gathered below.

1. How snake venom could help fight cancer
http://theweek.com/articles/444418/how-snake-venom...
Written August 2014 on theweek.com

Excerpt: "Cancer treatment is an emerging area in venom research," says Mande Holford, a biochemist at the City University of New York's Hunter College. Her research subjects are venomous marine snails, which she describes as "walking drug factories," due to the useful medicinal compounds in their venom.
There's a growing body of research examining the chemicals in various animal and plant toxins. Experiments show that some of these substances have a curious ability to bind selectively to cancer cells and inhibit their growth. Among the toxic molecules that could treat cancer are Melittin, a peptide in bee venom, and Contortrostatin, a protein in copperhead snake venom. Although experts can't fully explain exactly how the toxins bind to cancer cells, this quality makes them ideal for treating cancer.

2. Scorpion venom has toxic effects against cancer cells
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-05-scorpion-ven...
Written May 2015 on medicalxpress.com

Excerpt: A study at the University of Colima, in Mexico, has found over a hundred proteins identified as possible anti-cancer agents in Centruroides tecomanus scorpion venom

3. Venom's Healing Bite (this one is from PBS.org)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/venoms-healing-b...
Written February 2011 on PBS.org

Excerpt: Toxic compounds in venom could yield new drugs
For hundreds of millions of years, evolution has been perfecting its own brand of biological warfare: Venom. The toxic compounds in venom are finely honed weapons capable of launching precision attacks against cells in the nervous system, bloodstream, and organs. Now, medical researchers are tapping these potent chemical cocktails to develop new therapies for cancer, heart disease, and chronic pain.

-> Scorpion - Targeting cancer
The sting of the "death stalker" scorpion, Leiurus quinquestriatus, contains neurotoxins that can paralyze and kill. But one component of this scorpion's venom, chlorotoxin, could one day save lives, too, because it is drawn to cancer cells like a magnet to iron. By combining a synthetic chlorotoxin with a radioactive form of iodine, researchers can deliver radiation directly to cancer cells. Nanoparticle-spiked chlorotoxin may also slow the spread of cancer and could help deliver gene therapy to cancer cells. Because chlorotoxin can cross the blood-brain barrier, scientists are particularly interested in using it to treat brain cancers like glioma. Chlorotoxin can also help doctors spot cancer cells by selectively "painting" them with a fluorescent beacon.

-> Copperhead Snake - Keeping tumors in check
The bite of the southern copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix, a pit viper common in the eastern United States, is rarely fatal to humans, but it delivers a painful dose of venom. One component of the venom, a protein named contortrostatin, could stop the spread of cancer cells. Contortrostatin doesn't kill cancer cells; instead it holds them in check by interfering with surface proteins and blocking other mechanisms the cells need to move around the body. Contortrostatin also starves out tumors by staunching the growth of blood vessels that deliver nutrients to the malignant cells. Contortrostatin has been tested on breast, ovarian, prostate, melanoma, and brain cancers in mice, and researchers hope to start human clinical trials soon.

-> Honeybee - Killing cancer cells
The sharp pain of a honeybee sting is caused in part by a peptide called melittin, which kills cells by piercing holes in their membranes. To turn this indiscriminate killer into a fine-tuned cancer drug, researchers have combined it with nanoparticles and cancer-targeting agents that allow the melittin to "sting" cancer cells without harming healthy cells. Though the treatment has not yet been tested on human patients, it has shown promise on mice. Researchers also hope to harness melittin's cell-killing power to knock out other diseases, including bacterial and fungal infections and arthritis.

-> Pit Viper Snake - Controlling blood pressure
In Brazil, harvesting bananas is dangerous work. One bite from a pit viper like the Bothrops jararaca, which thrives on banana plantations, can cause a victim to collapse suddenly due to a precipitous drop in blood pressure. In the 1960s, researchers discovered the deadly secret of the vipers' venom: a protein that blocks a compound called angiotensin-converting enzyme, or ACE, which maintains healthy blood pressure. By the 1970s, drugmakers had used this protein to create a new class of high-blood-pressure treatments called ACE inhibitors, which lower blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels. The widely prescribed drugs typically have few side effects, and their applications go beyond blood-pressure treatment to include therapy for kidney disease, diabetes, and even migraine.

-> Snakes - Breaking blood clots (for Heart Attacks)
Of all the ways snakebite can kill, this one seems quite simple: Make the victim bleed to death. Many snake venoms contain compounds that stop the victim's blood from clotting. But the same compounds that can be deadly to a bite victim can be life-saving to patients with dangerous blood clots, which can block off blood to the brain, leading to stroke, or the heart, triggering a heart attack. Drugs like eptifibatide (marketed as Integrilin), derived from a protein in southeastern pygmy rattlesnake venom, and tirofiban (trade name Aggrastat), which comes from the venom of the saw-scaled viper, stop platelets from clumping together to form clots. They are often administered to patients experiencing—or on the verge of—heart attack.

-> Sea Snail - Relieving pain
Should you find yourself pricked by the harpoon-like tooth of a carnivorous Conus sea snail, as its deadly venom enters your body you may take comfort knowing that your death, though slow, may be painless. It's this painlessness that interested researchers questing for a new painkiller drug. Today, patients who don't get relief from morphine may receive an injection of Prialt, a synthetic version of a toxin in the venom of the Conus magus snail, which halts pain signals to the brain by blocking calcium channels in nerve cells. Prialt is a thousand times more powerful than morphine, and researchers believe it to be non-addictive. With more than 600 known species, Conus snails may turn out to be a rich source of painkillers.