Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Bee Venom Therapy Induces Repigmentation in Vitiligo Skin

Bee Venom Stimulates Human Melanocyte Proliferation, Melanogenesis, Dendricity and Migration
Exp Mol Med, 2007 Oct 31;39(5):603-13

Pigmentation may result from melanocyte proliferation, melanogenesis, migration or increases in dendricity. Recently, it has been reported that secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) known as a component of bee venom (BV), stimulates melanocyte dendricity and pigmentation.

BV has been used clinically to control rheumatoid arthritis and to ameliorate pain via its anti- inflammatory and antinociceptive properties. Moreover, after treatment with BV, pigmentation around the injection sites was occasionally observed and the pigmentation lasted a few months. However, no study has been done about the effect of BV on melanocytes.

Thus, in the present study, we examined the effect of BV on the proliferation, melanogenesis, dendricity and migration in normal human melanocytes and its signal transduction…

Overall, in this study, we demonstrated that BV may have an effect on the melanocyte proliferation, melanogenesis, dendricity and migration through complex signaling pathways in vitro, responsible for the pigmentation. Thus, our study suggests a possibility that BV may be developed as a therapeutic drug for inducing repigmentation in vitiligo skin.

3 comments:

Patrick Castronovo said...

As A Vitiligo suffer I hope and pray that yoour study on BV works!If there is anything I can do to help please contact me anytime. Patrick...

Anonymous said...

well I believe the your new BV would be the positive addition the mode of treatment of vitiligo. I would like to know more about it
I agree with you, In Vitiligo, the special skin cells (melanocytes) as well as the tissues (mucous membranes) that line the inside of the mouth, nose, genital and rectal areas, and the retina of the eyes are destroyed. As a result, white patches of skin appear on different parts of the body.

Unknown said...

Has there been any follow-up on this treatment option? Any clinical trials?