title: Fibrin(ogen)olytic activity of bumblebee venom serine protease.
abstract: Bee venom is a rich source of pharmacologically active components; it has been used as an immunotherapy to treat bee venom hypersensitivity, and venom therapy has been applied as an alternative medicine. Here, we present evidence that the serine protease found in bumblebee venom exhibits fibrin(ogen)olytic activity. Compared to honeybee venom, bumblebee venom contains a higher content of serine protease, which is one of its major components. Venom serine proteases from bumblebees did not cross-react with antibodies against the honeybee venom serine protease. We provide functional evidence indicating that bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) venom serine protease (Bt-VSP) acts as a fibrin(ogen)olytic enzyme. Bt-VSP activates prothrombin and directly degrades fibrinogen into fibrin degradation products. However, Bt-VSP is not a plasminogen activator, and its fibrinolytic activity is less than that of plasmin. Taken together, our results define roles for Bt-VSP as a prothrombin activator, a thrombin-like protease, and a plasmin-like protease. These findings offer significant insight into the allergic reaction sequence that is initiated by bee venom serine protease and its potential usefulness as a clinical agent in the field of hemostasis and thrombosis.
authors.affiliation: College of Natural Resources and Life Science, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yuling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Young Moo
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Choo
authors.forename: Hyung Joo
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Jingming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Doh Hoon
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hung Dae
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.forename: Byung Rae
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001514:Bee Venoms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D001516:Bees / Q000201:enzymology*; D001777:Blood Coagulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005337:Fibrin / Q000378:metabolism*; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011516:Prothrombin / Q000378:metabolism*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D001514:Bee Venoms; D005343:Fibrinolytic Agents; D011516:Prothrombin; D005337:Fibrin; D004247:DNA; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases