Potential of fibrinolytic protease enzyme from tissue of sand sea cucumber (Holothuria scabra) as thrombolysis agent

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are still the main cause of death in modern society with thrombosis as their most common underlying pathology. The occurrence of thrombosis is characterized by thrombus formation in the circulatory system of the body causing blood clot blockage. Thrombus blocking blood vessels can be destroyed through fibrinolysis by plasmin. Commonly administered fibrinolytic drugs activate plasminogen and convert plasminogen to plasmin which degrades fibrin. However, these agents have limitations such as higher costs, shorter half-lives, allergic reactions and intravenous administration-caused bleeding. Hence, more effective and safer antithrombotic drugs are needed in anti-thrombosis therapy. This paper was intended to assess the ability of Holothuria scabra tissue fibrinolytic proteases as a thrombolytic agent based on literature studies. Summary of recent studies showed that various strong fibrinolytic enzymes could be produced from various animal tissues such as snake and earthworm, yet from sea organism’ tissues are barely reported. In this literature review, the potential of protease enzymes from tissue of H. scabra as thrombolysis agent is summarized and discussed. Among the findings is that H. scabra has the highest protein content among other sea cucumbers in Indonesia, yet the isolation of protease enzymes from H. scabra tissue has not been reported. Hence, there is high possibility in finding novel proteases, which may include serine and metallo-protease known for their thrombolysis activities.