Fibrin-specific thrombolytic agents.

The mammalian fibrinolytic system comprises a proenzyme, plasminogen, which can be converted to the active enzyme plasmin, which will degrade fibrin. Plasminogen activation is mediated by plasminogen activators which are classified as either tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) or urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA). t-PA and single-chain u-PA (scu-PA) induce clot-specific thrombolysis, however via entirely different mechanisms. t-PA is relatively inactive in the absence of fibrin, but fibrin strikingly enhances the activation rate of plasminogen by t-PA. This is explained by an increased activity of fibrin-bound t-PA for plasminogen and not by alteration of the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme. scu-PA has a high affinity for plasminogen but, however, does not activate plasminogen in plasma in the absence of a fibrin clot, due to competitive inhibition. Fibrin-specific thrombolysis appears to be due to the fact that fibrin reverses the competitive inhibition, but this does not seem to occur via specific binding of scu-PA to fibrin. The thrombolytic efficacy and fibrin-specificity of natural and recombinant t-PA has been demonstrated in animal models of pulmonary embolism, venous thrombosis and coronary artery thrombosis. In all these studies thrombolysis and relative fibrinogen sparing effect of t-PA was recently confirmed in several multicenter clinical trials in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Specific thrombolysis by scu-PA has also been demonstrated in animal models of pulmonary embolism, venous thrombosis and coronary artery thrombosis.