To Bee or Not to Bee
by Dottie L. Heffron
As I was looking for some natural ways to treat my Lyme illness, I thought of the Indians of long ago. When it comes to this disease I think less is more, so I started looking up medicine man cures. I searched database after database coming up with some sites that offered many different herbs from Teasel to Cat's Claw. There were so many choices and I became so confused I came to the conclusion it's all a personal choice.
Researching for a project, I came across a study using mellitin and B. burgdorferi. Mellitin is the main component in bee venom. Bee venom consists of approximately 50% mellitin. The study was preformed by Lori Lubke and Claude Garon in 1997 at the Rocky Mt. Laboratory in Montana, and is as follows:
The antimicrobial agent melittin exhibits powerful in vitro inhibitory effects on the Lyme disease spirochete.
Lubke LL, Garon CF.
Rocky Mountain Laboratories Microscopy Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840, USA.
Borrelia burgdorferi has demonstrated a capacity to resist the in vitro effects of powerful eukaryotic and prokaryotic metabolic inhibitors. However, treatment of laboratory cultures on Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly medium with melittin, a 26-amino acid peptide contained in honeybee venom, showed immediate and profound inhibitory effects when they were monitored by dark-field microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and optical density measurements. Furthermore, at melittin concentrations as low as 100 microg/mL, virtually all spirochete motility ceased within seconds of inhibitor addition. Ultrastructural examination of these spirochetes by scanning electron microscopy revealed obvious alterations in the surface envelope of the spirochetes. The extraordinary sensitivity of B. burgdorferi to mellitin may provide both a research reagent useful in the study of selective permeability in microorganisms and important clues to the development of effective new drugs against lyme disease.¹
"Bee Venom Therapy is a classic example of the homeopathic principal, which states that a substance that produces the symptoms of a disease is a cure for that disease. Rheumatic diseases result in swelling, pain and inflammation. A bee sting causes the same symptoms. The sting stimulates the immune system to relieve the inflammation caused by the bee venom, while relieving the symptoms of the rheumatic disease at the same time. Bee Venom Therapy stimulates the immune system through the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands. This therapeutic effect stimulates the immune system rather than suppressing it, completely contrary to the effects of many drugs."²
"Bee venom contains a compound called apamin which enhances long-term synaptic transmission and dopamine which helps increase motor activity. The implications of their actions are obvious although not proven in any studies. In addition there is a component of bees' venom called adolapin, also a neurotransmitter that has been shown to have an analgesic effect which may be important for those who suffer pain as one of the symptoms." Bee venom is comprised of many different components and it could be the individual is allergic to something else, and not just the mellitin.³ Mellitin can be purchased just as a liquid, without all the other components that are in bee venom.
Approximately only 4% of the population is allergic to bee stings. I am not allergic, so I decided this might be something I would like to try. After all, it is natural and it dates back being used in Chinese and Indian therapies of long ago. Getting stung by a bee sounded too painful, and I did not think I could do that. So I decided to look around for other options. I found several places in New Zealand who make a honey with dried bee venom in it. The honey is taken from the manuka tree which is indigenous to New Zealand. Manuka honey has its own special properties. One teaspoon of the honey has one bee sting in it, and that is something I could live with, mmm honey.
I can say from personal use, for me, the manuka honey with bee venom does work really well. I am mentally sharper and I can think clearer and I feel all around much better. I do realize that I could become allergic to the venom at any point, so I keep track of how and when I use it. I do know several people who use bee venom cream and apply it to their stiff achy joints, and they say it works wonders! I have yet to use the cream, but I am betting it works great too.
After several months of using the honey, I had several questions about the study I read some months before, so I contacted Lori Lubke. She graciously granted me an interview and it is as follows:
Q. How long have you worked for the NIH?
A. 27 years this April [1982 to present]
Q. What made you go into research?
A. I was pursuing a pre-med course of study first at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and then at Washington State University in Pullman, Wa. Both universities have an excellent support system for Native American minority students - I am one quarter Navajo, a woman - studying medical science - and along with my GPA, I was nominated by the WSU biology department to attend the "Introduction to Biomedical Research Program" at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland [1982]. The I-B-R-P is a recruitment program designed to attract collegiate honor students with minority status from all across the nation to consider a career in biomedical research with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Following my participation in the IBRP, I was selected for a summer internship with the NIH/NIAID either in Washington, DC, or in Hamilton, Montana, at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories [RML]. The latter site, Hamilton, was only a 7 hour drive over the mountains directly east of Pullman, Washington [WSU]. I was assigned to a newly developing electron microscopy lab under the direction of Dr. Claude Garon, an electron microscopist from the Bethesda NIH campus. I completed two summer internships in that laboratory, and subsequently applied for a full time microbiologist position in Dr. Garon's department, where I stayed for 20 years. When Dr. Garon retired, some of us in the microscopy lab department were given the option to transfer to a new laboratory at RML and I was ready for a change… and I was introduced to the colorful world of histology and immuno-histo-chemistry staining of infected animal tissue samples.
Q. What are your scientific credentials, i.e. degrees, etc.?
A. I have my Bachelor of Science degree in zoology and a minor in psychology.
Q. What department do you work in now, and what department did you work in when you did the Melittin/Lyme Borrelia study?
A. I currently work in the Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases [LPVD], specifically in the Histopathology lab, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIAID], National Institutes of Health [NIH], Rocky Mountain Laboratories [RML], Hamilton, Montana. At the time of the mellitin project, I worked in the Electron Microscopy section of the Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis [LBP], RML/NIAID/NIH.
Q. Did you always want to be a scientist?
A. When I went to college, I knew more of what I didn't want to do than exactly what I did want to do. However, I knew that I was drawn to a career in animal and human biology. After I was fortunate enough to be asked to complete two back to back summer internships in biomedical research [see #2 above], I knew I'd found my niche in microbiology. I only wish I'd spent more time studying microbiology and immunology but I've years of on the job training!
Q. What do you like about it most? And what do you like the least?
A. I most enjoy the multi-faceted angles it takes to look at any given research project as an ever evolving 'story' about a disease and its main characters - often a bacterium or virus or mystical protein such as a prion, and their roles in the cellular world, inside their host tissue of choice. The least: the length of time it takes to unravel the complete story of a disease at the molecular level can take years, and progress can be much more difficult than one expects or imagines. Often, in reality, a complete story is unattainable.
Interviewer: Take us back to 1997:
Q. How did you come about doing a study that involved Melittin? And then how did you pair it with the Borrelia burgdorferi?
A. Our laboratory was one of several combined units on the Rocky Mountain Laboratories campus studying the bacterial spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, that causes Lyme Disease. In fact, the bacterial agent was discovered here [@ Rocky Mountain Laboratories] by Dr. Willy Burgdorfer in the early 1980's. [Lyme ticks by the way are not endemic to our area in western Montana.] We were challenged in the microscopy lab with literally 'focusing' - pun intended - on viewing the spirochete, especially its membranous and cellular structures and its genetic material [all possible with the help of our Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopes]. We often noticed the bacterium would generate bubbles or 'blebs' on its surface which we found contained portions of the genetic material of the intact cells. Changes in spirochete cell appearance occurred for various reasons including age of the individual cells and the culture medium, the growing number of cells in a live reproducing culture, and the changing properties of their nutrient environment [such as drops in environmental pH with diminishing nutrient content of the culture medium in which the bacterial colonies were grown]. My boss, Dr. Claude Garon, head of our electron microscopy division, read about a small group of various agents with the ability to alter membrane permeability, and essentially punch holes in the bacterial membrane of various cellular organisms. We decided to try this on spirochetes in live cultures … and the results were visually stunning! The spirochete membranes seemed to explode into piles of blebs and flagella and they were immediately stopped cold in their corkscrew motility. At that time there were also reports surfacing of persons trying 'bee sting therapy' to treat many afflictions, including Lyme Disease symptoms and even Multiple Sclerosis, which I had a personal interest in. I was diagnosed with MS in 1989. Many of my symptoms mimicked the neurologic phase of Lyme disease patients. However, I never tried bee sting therapy and did extremely well with the beta interferon injection therapies which diminished the number, length, and severity of my relapsing/remitting MS episodes. To this day, my MS has been thankfully very mild.
Anyway, the mellitin/spirochete project was a timely experiment combining our technology resources, accessibility to electron microscopes, researchers onsite studying Borrelia burgdorferi, personal interest, and continuous reading of relevant biomedical studies.
Q.Your study states, "at melittin concentrations as low as 100 microg/mL, virtually all spirochetes’ motility ceased within seconds of inhibitor addition." To cease all movement is very profound indeed. Could this be comparable to humans or animals that contract B. burgdorferi, given they applied the correct amount?
A. I really have no idea. I imagine that is the thinking behind the use of bee sting therapy. It's my understanding that the spirochetes are found in the tick bite area for a relatively short time, and then it is very difficult to isolate them from the body/blood/synovial fluid/cerebral spinal fluid - sites of interest where symptoms and damage develop. There is evidence that the spirochetes change their form and surface proteins to essentially 'hide' from the host's immune system response to their presence. Perhaps other components and chemicals at a given skin site may affect the level of toxicity and effectiveness of the mellitin molecules before they have a chance to find and bind to the spirochetes. Inflammation at a bite or sting site is the result of the body reacting and calling in host chemicals and immune cells to localize and fight infection. There may be several modes of attack going on at once. To be honest, our focus in the study did not proceed to therapeutic measures - our mission was/is to study the molecular and biological basis of the agents of disease and it is up to others to take the findings further to diagnostic and therapeutic avenues.
Q. You used just melittin as the inhibitor? No other components of bee venom were used?
A. Yes, just the mellitin molecule - the purified toxic component of honeybee venom. We obtained the mellitin commercially from Sigma Chemical. It contained a small amount of phospholipase - an enzyme which was tested alone and had no visible effect on cell motility or ultrastructure [membrane integrity].
Q. People can be allergic to the other compounds in bee venom, not just the melittin, correct?
A. This is really out of my area of expertise. I am not a medical expert and I am personally not aware of the allergic effects of other components in honeybee venom released by bees when they sting. It seems that the pollen carried by the bee may also trigger allergic reactions in some patients.
Q. You also go on to state, "Ultrastructural examination of these spirochetes by scanning electron microscopy revealed obvious alterations in the surface envelope of the spirochetes." What kind of alterations were they? Holes, rips or something to that effect?
A. Yes - Mellitin molecules bind strongly to components of the spirochete's bacterial outer and inner cell membranes, producing visible holes and porous channels along their surface, as well as causing membrane disintegration … some cells even seemed stripped of their membranes. All these effects in turn cause distortion of their characteristic undulating form into kinked and twisted cells along with highly aggregated cell colonies bound by 'gooey/sticky' extracellular debris. The flagella within the spirochete envelope becomes detached and released from the cell which would explain a change in motility. We also observed blebs appearing in greatly increased volumes both attached to cells and floating free in the cell culture medium. A train wreck of molecular proportions!
Q. Did you take photos of the alterations in the surface of the spirochete? If so, where can we view these?
A. Yes, in the paper cited, see Figure 2. Clin. Inf. Dis. 1997;25[Suppl 1]:S48-51
Q. Is there any new discovery or continued studies?
A. I don't recall any further work on the effects of mellitin on Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes in our specific department. At any given time, the microscopy unit addresses several scientific requests for all of RML plus many collaborative studies for all of NIAID in Bethesda as well as universities and labs across the nation and globally. Time restraints and prioritizing of projects determine the focus - pun intended! - of our experimental endeavors in the microscopy department.
Q. Do you know of anyone else using your powerful information to do further studies?
A. To be honest, I did not personally follow this beyond the visible molecular effects on the spirochete and the procedures used to prepare the organisms for electron microscopic viewing.
Q. Dr. Klinghardt uses Bee Venom Therapy for his Lyme patients, with renowned success. Is there anything you would like doctors/researchers to know further about this study?
A. Only to reiterate that the mechanism of the binding action of the low-molecular- weight mellitin molecule to the spirochete causes inappropriate permeability characteristics and may even allow other therapeutic chemicals to simultaneously enter the open channels of the bacterial membrane to further disable and treat a bacterial infection. What I do seem to recall also is that some of the bacterial cells had the ability to seemingly repair their open wounds and were able to grow successfully in mellitin-treated media. Perhaps they were cells that are effectively protected in the center of large aggregates of cell colonies while the other more accessible outer cells in the aggregate soaked up all the available mellitin present? Also, blebbing of spirochete membranes is a natural process in the spirochete arsenal, and the membranous blebs contain DNA molecules which may allow the bacteria to effectively change their envelope coat and hide from the immune system while also carrying the necessary genetic blueprints to propagate and maintain an infection somewhere else in the body.
Q. Do you have any recommendations?
A. Perhaps to make bee stings less painful? But as the saying goes, no pain no gain! Also, use the correct term: Lyme Disease, not Lymes Disease. It always 'bugs' me when I hear people say that!
It "bugs" many of us too, Ms. Lubke! You would be surprised just how many people do say that! I would like to publicly thank you for publishing such findings and granting me an interview. I was hoping that by highlighting your study, showing that mellitin does work to eradicate the spirochete, some of the researchers out there would take interest and do some more studies using mellitin. As just about everyone knows, natural is always better.
References
¹ Lubke LL, Garon CL, The Antimicrobial Agent Melittin Exhibits Powerful In Vitro Inhibitory Effects on the Lyme Disease Spirochete, 1997 Study.
² Charles Mraz, Health and the Honeybee, p. 46; Queen City Publications, 1995
³ Honey Bee Therapy LLC, http:www.honeybeetherapy.com
4http://www.essortment.com/all/beestingtreatm_rzdn.htm
5 Lubke LL, Telephone interview, March 2009
