Portal de Murcia
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A recent biochemical study by the Regional Hemoronization Center and the Morales Meseguer University Hospital, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, has discovered a region of antithrombin, a fundamental protein in blood coagulation, that apparently was not related to its functionality and, in reality, it is essential for it to work correctly.
The research article, led by researcher Irene Martínez Martínez, from the Hematology and Experimental Clinical Oncology group at the University of Murcia (UMU), indicates that by knowing how antithrombin works, better treatments can be developed, not only for deficiency of antithrombin, but for other coagulation disorders.
Therefore, this line of research, in addition to the possible direct benefits that it could bring in the form of new drugs, opens a new horizon at a clinical level.
The coagulation of blood is essential after an injury "basically because it prevents us from bleeding bled," says Martinez.
However, if the process is not blocked and normal blood is restored, it can be counterproductive.
It is precisely antithrombin that is responsible for deactivating the coagulation enzymes and restoring balance, but a deficiency of the protein can lead to thrombosis.
Thrombosis can have a lethal end for the human being "because when the region around a clot stops receiving oxygen and nutrients is ischemic and dies," says the researcher.
The regions most affected by this pathology are usually the brain, the lung or the liver.
"Being able to study affected patients has led us to the conclusions of this article [...] Maybe we do not have to be so rational, there are times when nature comes to surprise us because we can not imagine the consequences of some mutations", recognizes Irene Martínez Martínez.
Thanks to the mutations of some patients with antithrombin deficiency, it has been possible to study the protein in this way and reach these conclusions.
The deficiency of antithrombin is hereditary and is not common: the prevalence varies from 1 in 500 to 1 in 5000 inhabitants, but it is dangerous.
It is not something detectable in a simple way and has a higher rate of appearance the older we are.
In fact, "if a patient gives symptoms, a family study is done to determine where the problem comes from," he adds.
Antithrombin not only regulates coagulation.
Other research carried out by Irene Martínez, always dedicated to the characterization of antithrombin deficiency, has shown that it has an antitumor role, capable of controlling other proteins that are deregulated in cancer: "They start functioning in an uncontrolled way and we have seen that antithrombin is able to control some of them, we have done a study in mice that control tumor metastasis, "he says.
It was already known that antithrombin exerted a role in inflammation, in the control of angiogenesis (a physiological process that consists in the formation of blood vessels), as an antiviral, and now the group is investigating this antitumor aspect.
"The editor of the magazine has selected our article as one of its weekly Tops, this selection is based on the decision of associated editors, editorial team and other reviewers, only 50 articles out of more than 6600 are selected per year. ", indicates Martinez.
The way in which the article has been chosen for the appearance in the journal suggests the importance and relevance of the study.
The project has been funded by the Carlos III Health Institute, by FEDER and by the Seneca Foundation.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
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