Heparin a key role player in allergy and inflammatory reactions

Heparin has a long history at Karolinska Institutet, since here the substance was originally purified and its chemical structure was characterized back in 1935 by Professor Erik Jorpes. Knowing about the therapeutic implications Jorpes was one of the pioneers treating patients that suffered from thrombosis with heparin infusions. Today, heparin is still one of the most commonly used anticoagulant drugs.

Professor Jorpes showed that heparin is produced in a specific blood-born cell population, called mast cells. Mast cells have a central function in allergic and inflammatory diseases and contribute to increased vascular permeability, allergic and anaphylactic reactions. The current study identifies the underlying mechanism and its therapeutical implications.

The authors show that heparin initiates the production of a hormone – bradykinin – that contributes to swelling, anaphylactic and inflammatory symptoms, which are commonly known to be associated with aberrant mast cell activity. Notably, mast cell-released heparin generates the inflammatory mediator bradykinin via activation of factor XII (the so-called Hageman Factor) that belongs to the blood coagulation system.

The study thus provides an unexpected link between the clotting cascade and mast cell-driven pro-inflammatory reactions. Drugs that block bradykinin or factor XII activity protect from adverse mast cell-driven effects in patients and genetically engineered mouse models and could be a new strategy to treat allergic diseases.

Publication:
Chris Oschatz, Coen Maas, Bernd Lecher, Thomas Jansen, Jenny Björkqvist, Thomas Tradler, Reinhard Sedlmeier, Peter Burfeind, Sven Cichon, Sven Hammerschmidt, Werner Müller-Esterl, Walter A. Wuillemin, Gunnar Nilsson & Thomas Renné
Mast cells increase vascular permeability by heparin-initiated bradykinin formation in vivo

Immunity, February 25, 2011, Volume 34, Issue 2

Media Contact

Katarina Sternudd EurekAlert!

More Information:

http://www.ki.se

All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine

This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.

Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors