Methods available to assess therapeutic potential of fibrinolytic enzymes of microbial origin: a review

Fibrinolytic enzymes are agents administered for the treatment of myocardial infarctions, strokes, cardiac and respiratory failure. Although several microorganisms are known to produce these fibrinolytic enzymes, only a few of such enzymes, along with the age-old oral anticoagulants, have been employed in the clinical and therapeutic applications in humans. The use of these agents is associated with drawbacks such as allergic reactions and bleeding complications; therefore, it necessitates frequent monitoring of drug levels in the blood. Due to this, there is an impetus on the current effort to identify newer potential candidates from the novel microbial sources which show longer half-life, higher fibrin specificity, higher therapeutic index and lesser allergic reactions. Various methods are available for the preliminary evaluation of a potential drug candidate for the therapeutic use. Choosing the right combination of in vitro and in vivo methods would give crucial insight on the therapeutic potential of the chosen test compound. This article discusses various assay techniques, in vitro trails and in vivo models available, to help researchers in choosing right biological methods and its combinations to evaluate efficacy of potential drug candidate.