Development of thrombolytic agents.

Despite their widespread use in patients with acute myocardial infarction, all currently available thrombolytic agents suffer from a number of significant limitations, including resistance to reperfusion, the occurrence of acute coronary reocclusion and bleeding complications. Furthermore, the therapeutic use of plasminogen activators as thrombolytic agents requires intravenous infusion of relatively large amounts of material. Therefore, the quest for thrombolytic agents with a higher thrombolytic potency, specific thrombolytic activity and/or a better fibrin-selectivity continues. Several lines of research towards improvement of thrombolytic agents are being explored, including the construction of mutants and variants of plasminogen activators, chimeric plasminogen activators, conjugates of plasminogen activators with monoclonal antibodies, or plasminogen activators from animal or bacterial origin.