Microscopic "nanobees" that literally sting tumours to death have been successfully used to fight cancer.
Researchers in the US unleashed swarms of the tiny artificial particles on human breast and skin tumours in mice.
Each spherical "nanobee", measuring just three millionths of an inch across, was armed with a cancer-killing toxin found in bee venom.
Targeting cancer but not healthy cells, the nanobees delivered a lethal "sting".
The bee toxin, melittin, destroys cells by drilling holes through them.
After four to five injections of melittin-carrying nanobees over several days, the growth of breast cancer tumours in the mice was slowed by nearly 25%.
Melanoma - or skin cancer - tumours shrank in size by 88%.
Professor Samuel Wickline, from the Siteman Centre of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Washington University School of Medicine, said: "The nanobees fly in, land on the surface of cells and deposit their cargo of melittin which rapidly merges with the target cells.
"We've shown that the bee toxin gets taken into the cells where it pokes holes in their internal structures."
The nanobees are made of perfluorocarbon, an inert material used in artificial blood. Dr Wickline's team has been investigating their use in various medical applications, including the diagnosis and treatment of narrowed arteries and cancer.
Krazyness!
