Influenza is a viral infection that attacks the respiratory system. For most people, the flu
disappears on its own but sometimes the flu and its complications can be deadly. This study
established a new trend to treat Influenza virus by using bee venom and its fraction compared
with the traditional flu drug. It was proved that bee venom (BV) has an antiviral effect. The
bee venom (BV), bee venom phospholipase A2 (BV-PLA2) and ribovinal as a control drug
were used. The cytotoxicity of the selected compounds was determined using MTT assay.
Also, the cytopathic effect was measured after 24, 48 & 72 hours incubations and
determination of gene expression of INF-gamma using SYBR Green. The IC50s of BV, BVPLA2
and ribovinal were 87.8, 17.3 &137.5μg/ml after 24 hours incubation, 36.9, 9.6 &
24.6μg/ml after 48 hours incubation, and 9.7, 7.45 & 31.6μg/ml after 72 hours incubation,
respectively. In addition, the cytopathic effect of both BV and ribovinal was directly
proportional to its concentration and incubation time. Whereas, BV-PLA2 showed an increase
in cytopathic effect after 48 hours in spite of its concentration in case of direct antiviral effect.
However, the indirect antiviral effect for both BV and PLA2 showed the same cytopathic
effect in all concentrations and incubation times. So, the gene expression of INF-γ was
significant increased after 48 hours incubation of either BV or ribovinal in direct and indirect
effects. While the INF-γ expression was (14.8 & 16.4) direct and in indirect antiviral effects
of BV-PLA2, respectively. These findings revealed the antiviral effect of both bee venom and
BV-PLA2 against influenza virus.