Thrombin and Thrombin-Incorporated Biomaterials for Disease Treatments

Thrombin, a coagulation-inducing protease, has long been used in the hemostatic field. During the past decades, many other therapeutic uses of thrombin have been developed. For instance, burn treatment, pseudoaneurysm therapy, wound management, and tumor vascular infarction (or tumor vasculature blockade therapy) can all utilize the unique and powerful function of thrombin. Based on their therapeutic effects, many thrombin-associated products have been certificated by the Food and Drug Administration, including bovine thrombin, human thrombin, recombinant thrombin, fibrin glue, etc. Besides, several thrombin-based drugs are currently undergoing clinical trials. In this article, the therapeutic uses of thrombin (from the initial hemostasis to the latest cancer therapy), the commercially available drugs associated with thrombin, and the pros and cons of thrombin-based therapeutics (e.g., adverse immune responses related to bovine thrombin, thromboinflammation, and vasculogenic rebounds) are summarized. Further, the current challenges and possible future research directions of thrombin-incorporated biomaterials and therapies are discussed. It is hoped that this review may provide a valuable reference for researchers in this field and help them to design safer and more effective thrombin-based drugs for fighting against various intractable diseases. As a potent coagulation-inducing protease, thrombin is widely used in hemostasis, burn treatment and wound management, pseudoaneurysms therapy, and most recently, cancer therapy. In this review, the therapeutics based on thrombin are summarized, especially for the emerging tumor treatment approaches, with a discussion of multiple thrombin-associated medical products, and an outlook of thrombin-incorporated biomaterials and therapies.image

Automated summary

Thrombin, as a potent coagulation-inducing protease, has a wide range of therapeutic uses, including hemostasis, burn treatment, wound management, pseudoaneurysm therapy, and cancer therapy. This review summarizes the therapeutics based on thrombin, particularly the emerging tumor treatment approaches, discusses various thrombin-associated medical products, and provides an outlook on thrombin-incorporated biomaterials and therapies.