Wasp Venom Kills Cancer Cells

Now wait a minute, who thought to try and see if this worked?

Well it does!  The Brazilian wasp Polybia paulista protects itself from predators by secreting a venom that contains the toxin MP1.  This toxin selectively kills cancer cells while leaving the normal cells completely alone.  The toxin basically accomplishes this by disrupting the cell membrane in cancerous cells, causing the cells to lyse (basically create holes in the cell membrane that erupt the cell's inner guts out of the cell membrane) and die.  Interestingly, the host's normal cells are left intact, indicating that there may be a property in cancerous cell membranes that may differ slightly from a normal cell, allowing MP1 to act on the cell membrane. 

Unfortunately, that's about what the scientists know at this point.  They are currently working to create model membranes and expose certain lipids and components of the membranes to MP1, and figure out just how exactly the wasp's toxin selectively kills cancer cells.  In addition, more information can be found here:

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-brazilian-wasp-venom-cancer-cells.html

Now I'm not suggesting that one go to Brazil, and sit outside until a Brazilian wasp stings him or her.  Please don't do that, I never said that was a good idea.  But, maybe someday, we can use the toxin MP1 to formulate a combatant against cancer cells.