abstract         background and objective: hirudin is an anticoagulant polypeptide secreted from the salivary glands of leeches. recombinant hirudin is a strong anticoagulant agent in arterial and venous thrombosis. the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of inserting protein a signal peptide sequence of pezz18 plasmid on expression and secretion of the recombinant hirudin in e.coli.  ...

BACKGROUND After introducing the specific thrombin inhibitor recombinant hirudin (r-hirudin) into clinical practice in cases of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT, type II) the possibility of its use as an anticoagulant during haemodialysis treatment in HIT II patients is being discussed more frequently. On the one hand, the efficient, safe and routine use of r-hirudin during haemodialyses, ...

FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of hirudin have been recorded from the native solid hirudin. The conformation of the molecule has been discussed on the basis of IR and Raman data. It has been concluded that hirudin molecule has a mixed a-helix and random coil conformation.

The metabolic fate of the anticoagulant protein, hirudin, and its complex with thrombin are presently unknown. Therefore we have labelled hirudin and human thrombin-hirudin complex with the residualizing label dilactitol-125I-tyramine (*I-DLT) in order to identify their tissue sites of catabolism in the rat. The rapid plasma clearance of hirudin after intravenous injection was unaffected by *I-...

BACKGROUND The likelihood of restenosis is a major limitation of coronary angioplasty. We studied whether hirudin, a highly selective inhibitor of thrombin with irreversible effects, would prevent restenosis after angioplasty. We compared two regimens of recombinant hirudin with heparin. METHODS We randomly assigned 1141 patients with unstable angina who were scheduled for angioplasty to rece...

Recombinant desulfatohirudin (r-hirudin), a highly specific inhibitor of thrombin, was examined to determine whether it would inhibit production of experimental lung metastasis by B16-F10 melanoma cells. In in vitro assays using mouse plasma, the high level of procoagulant activity in B16-F10 cells was significantly inhibited by r-hirudin in a dose-dependent manner. From 15 to 120 min after s.c...

We report a patient who was treated with recombinant (r)-hirudin for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and developed a flush reaction twice upon re-exposure to 25 mg of subcutaneous r-hirudin. Antihirudin IgG antibodies developed. The patient received 50 mg of PEG-hirudin subcutaneously over 2 days. No side-effects occurred. The level of IgG antihirudin antibodies increased. Ecarin clotting time...

Recombinant hirudin (r-hirudin) is being used increasingly for therapeutic anticoagulation in patients with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia undergoing cardiovascular surgery. Although multiple laboratory methods are available for measuring r-hirudin, the ecarin clotting time (ECT) is the most commonly used for this purpose. Ecarin (extracted from snake venom) converts prothrombin to meizothrom...