Bombolitin is a venom peptide originally isolated from bumblebees and possesses various biological activities, including hemolytic activity. Bombolitins exhibit amphipathic α-helical structure in lipid-membrane-mimicking environments. To investigate their pharmacological and toxicological properties, anti-tumor, anti-microbial and cytotoxic activities of bombolitins from Bombus ardens and Bombus ussurensis were evaluated. Bombolitins of the two species exhibited extremely high anti-tumor activity against ovarian tumor cells SK-OV-3 and NIH; OVCAR-3 at 25-50 μM, which is 2-fold more potent than other wasp venom peptides studied to date (Yoon et al., 2015; Yoon et al., 2016). The two bombolitins showed significantly high antimicrobial activity. However, bombolotin of B. ussurensis showed no antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli. In addition to their high levels of anti-tumor activity, bombolitins showed considerable levels of hemolytic activity. Thus, to utilize bombolitins as a potential candidate for anti-tumor peptide drugs, further studies for reducing cytotoxic properties of bombolitns is essential.

• Kyungjae Andrew Yoon(Department of Agricultural Biology, Seoul National University)
• Kyungmun Kim(Department of Agricultural Biology, Seoul National University)
• A-Young Kim(Ilsong Institute of Life Science, Hallym University)
• Young Han Park(Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital)
• Woo Young Bang(National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), Environmental Research Complex)
• Chang Hwan Bae(National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), Environmental Research Complex)
• Joo-Hong Yeo(National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR), Environmental Research Complex)
• Young Ho Koh(Ilsong Institute of Life Science, Hallym University, Department of Biomedical Gerontology, Hallym University)
• Si Hyeock Lee(Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University)