Australian researchers discovered a compound in honeybee venom, called melittin, destroys two types of aggressive breast cancer cells. The compound was effective in killing both to hard-to-treat forms of breast cancer: triple-negative and HER2-enriched.

According to BBC News,  the scientists said their discovery was exciting, but that further testing is needed to establish its value in the real world. The American Cancer Society says that breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women in the U.S., just behind skin cancers. About 287,850 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women this year, and 43,250 will die from the disease.

The study by the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research in Western Australia was published in Nature Precision Oncology, a peer-reviewed journal. Previous research has found that bee venom has anti-cancer properties against other types of cancer, such as melanoma, leukemia, and pancreatic cancers, according to the authors of the study.

The scientists used venom from over 300 honeybees and bumblebees and the extract proved to be “extremely potent,” said Ciara Duffy who led the study. One concentration of the venom was found to kill breast cancer cells within an hour with minimal damage to other cells. But as the concentration of the venom increased, so did the toxicity.

The researchers found that using the melittin compound on its own was effective in “shutting down” or disrupting cell cancer growth, says BBC News. Melittin can also be synthetically produced, which may facilitate its use in fighting cancer in the future if further testing bears out the results of this study.

“Significantly, this study demonstrates how melittin interferes with signaling pathways within breast cancer cells to reduce cell replication,” said Peter Klinken, a leading Western Australian medical research scientist highly regarded for his work in genetic research. “It provides a wonderful example of where compounds in nature can be used to treat human disease.”

Triple-negative breast cancer is an aggressive form and has been traditionally treated with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. It accounts for 10-15% of all breast cancers, says BBC News.

But researchers warn that more work is needed to see if the bee venom could be used as a cancer-fighting drug.

“Many compounds can kill a breast cancer cell in a dish or in a mouse,” said associate professor Alex Swarbrick, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney. “But there’s a long way to go from those discoveries to something that can change clinical practice.”