J Biomed Transl Res.  2016 Sep;17(3):75-78. 10.12729/jbtr.2016.17.3.075.

Phospholipase A2 isolated from the venom of honey bees prevents viral attachment in mammalian cells

• Hewawaduge CY
• Lee BH
• Kim TH
• Uddin MB
• Kim JH
• Kim CG
• Lee JS

• KMID: 2368701
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12729/jbtr.2016.17.3.075

Abstract

The belief that honey bee venom (BV) can be used to treat certain immune-related diseases, such as arthritis and rheumatic conditions, goes back to antiquity. A growing number of reports have demonstrated that BV contains at least 18 pharmacologically active components, including phospholipase Aâ‚‚ (PLAâ‚‚). Recent research has shown that bee venom PLAâ‚‚ (bvPLAâ‚‚) induces protective immune responses against several diseases including asthma, Parkinson's disease, and drug-induced organ inflammation. However, the antiviral properties of bvPLA2 have not been well investigated. Hence, we examined the potential inhibitory effects of bvPLA2 and its possible mechanism of action against a broad panel of pathogenic viruses in vitro. Pre-treatment with bvPLA2 significantly inhibited the replication of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), coxsackie virus (H3), enterovirus- 71 (EV-71), herpes simplex virus (HSV) and Adenovirus (AdV) dramatically. However, bvPLAâ‚‚ did not show antiviral activity against Influenza A virus (PR8) and Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Such inhibitory effects were explained by blocking of the attachment of the virus to cells upon bvPLAâ‚‚ treatment. Additionally, we observed that Heparan sulfate (HS) has an inhibitory effect on the attachment of HSV to the cell surface dose dependently, which was inconsistent with bvPLAâ‚‚ treatment. These findings suggest that bvPLAâ‚‚ has an inhibitory effect on the replication of diverse viruses by blocking their attachment to the cell surface and could be a promising source of natural antiviral agents.

Keyword

bee venom phospholipase A2; attachment assay; virus replication; inhibitory effects; heparan sulfate

MeSH Terms

Adenoviridae
Antiviral Agents
Arthritis
Asthma
Bee Venoms
Bees*
Heparitin Sulfate
Honey*
In Vitro Techniques
Inflammation
Influenza A virus
Newcastle disease virus
Parkinson Disease
Phospholipases A2*
Phospholipases*
Simplexvirus
Venoms*
Vesicular Stomatitis
Virus Replication
Antiviral Agents
Bee Venoms
Heparitin Sulfate
Phospholipases
Phospholipases A2
Venoms