Heparin is a commonly used blood anticoagulant used during medical procedures and treatments such as kidney dialysis, heart bypass surgery, stent implantation, indwelling catheters, knee and hip replacements, and deep vein thrombosis. The annual worldwide sales of heparin are estimated at $3 billion. The common injectable form of heparin is derived from pig intestines.

Researchers from the Rensselaer and UNC-Chapel Hill have devised a novel, alternate method of synthesizing heparin using by engineering recently discovered heparin biosynthetic enzymes and co-factor recycling.

"We have synthetically prepared heparin in quantities large enough for use in human medical treatments by engineering recently discovered heparin biosynthetic enzymes," says Robert Linhardt, the Ann and John H. Broadbent Jr. '59 Senior constellation Professor of Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "These discoveries will enable us to effectively replace a variable raw material - heparin derived from processed animal organs - with a synthetic material - synthetic heparin - and have the same therapeutic result."

Linhardt said they still plan to optimize the process another million-fold to make it commercially viable.

These were published in the Dec 30, 2005 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and again in Jan. 13, 2006 issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication.

Source: Rensselaer NewsPhoto: Rotation of the extended helix of heparin dodecasaccharide sequence by 90 degrees is shown in a space-filling representation with the charged sulfo groups shown as yellow balls with attached oxygen as red balls lying on the outer surface of the molecule. Credit: RPI/Robert Linhardt