Premium
Enzymatic Production of Heparin Anticoagulants for Human Use
Author(s) -
Joice April Coley,
Mencio Caitlin,
Raman Karthik,
Painter Chelsea,
Tran Vy,
Kalita Mausam,
Kuberan Balagurunathan
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.593.1
Subject(s) - heparin , anticoagulant , recombinant dna , chemistry , pharmacology , biochemistry , biology , medicine , surgery , gene
Currently, the pharmaceutical heparin being used as an anticoagulant is isolated from bovine lungs or porcine intestines. The primary problem resulting from heparin isolation from animal sources is that this process leaves the heparin open to contamination from animal pathogens that may also be infectious to humans. Enzymatic production of heparin anticoagulant is an attractive alternative to animal derived heparin as it removes the potential for contamination with animal pathogens and also potentially reduces molecular heterogeneity. Heparosan, produced in bacteria, has a structure similar to the backbone structure of heparin and therefore is used as a precursor in the enzymatic production of heparin anticoagulant using various recombinant sulfotransferases. After production, the synthetic heparin was assessed for anticoagulant activity. This approach offers a great promise for human use in the coming years. Supported by NIHLBI grant HL107152.