1884, Haycraft first discovered a bioactive substance hirudin in the salivary glands of European medical leeches. Shionoya first studied it as an effective antithrombotic drug in 1927. In 1955, Markward pointed out that it is a protein substance and named it hirudin.

Hirudin is one of the most active and studied components extracted from leeches and their salivary glands. It is a small molecular polypeptide composed of 65-66 amino acids. Hirudo is rich in hirudin, which has a strong inhibitory effect on thrombin and is the strongest natural specific inhibitor of thrombin found so far. Hirudin has a strong inhibitory effect on coagulation and thrombosis, and has a broad application prospect in clinical treatment and prevention of various thrombosis.

Hirudin recombination

Because hirudin has important development value, and the source of leech is limited, the medical circles at home and abroad focus on obtaining recombinant hirudin through genetic engineering. After 1986, the recombinant hirudin was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and zymogen respectively. Compared with natural hirudin, the 63rd amino acid (tyrosine) of recombinant hirudin is not sulfated, and its activity is slightly lower, and other properties are basically the same. Intravenous injection has no toxic and side effects at therapeutic dose.

At present, some large foreign biotechnology companies have entered various clinical studies of hirudin. Every year, at least a dozen patents about hirudin peptides are published, including hirudin-like peptides, and there are always dozens of research papers every year. 199 was officially listed in Germany at the end of 1998, and199 was approved to be listed in Britain. Registered countries are the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries 10.

Refer to the above content: Baidu Encyclopedia-Hirudin