Melittin,cationic 26-amino acid, is the principal component of the bee venom (BV) which has been used for treatment of inflammatory disease such as arthritis rheumatism NF-kB is activated by subsequent release of inhibitory IkB via activation of a multisubunit IkB kinase (IKK). We previously found that melittin bind to the sulfhydryl group of p50, a subunit of NF-kB. Since sulfhydryl group is present in kinase domain of IKKa and IKKb, melittin could modify IKK activity by protein-protein interaction. We therefore examined effect of melittin on IKK activities in sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-stimulated synoviocyte obtained from RA patients. Melittin suppressed the SNP-induced release of IkB resulted in inhibition of DNA binding activity of NF-kB and NF-kB-dependent luciferase activity. Consistent with the inhibitory effect on NF-kB activation, IKKa and IKKb activities were also suppressed by melittin. Surface plasmon resonance analysis realized that melitin binds to IKKa $(Kd;=;1.34{ imes}10-9M)$ and IKKb$(Kd;=;1.0{ imes}10-9M)$. Inhibition of IKKa and IKKb resulted in reduction of the SNP-induced production of inflammatory mediators NO and PGE2 generation. The inhibitory effect of melittin on the IKKs activities, binding affinity of melittin to IKKs, and NO and PGE2 generation were blocked by addition of reducing agents dithiothreitol and glutathione. In addition, melittin did not show inhibitory effect in the transfected Synoviocytes with plasmid carrying dominant negative mutant IKKa (C178A) and IKKb (C179A). These results demonstrate that melittin directly binds to sulfhydryl group of IKKs resulting in IkBrelease, thereby inhibits activation of NF-kB and expression of genes involving in the inflammatory responses.