Progress in study of structure-function relationship and protein engineering of plasminogen activators

Thrombolytic agents play an important role in the treatment of thrombus diseases. In clinic, traditional thrombolytic agents always resulted in the side effect of systemic thrombolysis because of the shortcomings, such as short half-life, poor specificity of thrombus. Recently, with the development of knowledge of the relationship between their structure and function, a series of new thrombolytic agents were constructed by means of molecular biological techniques. Developing new types of thrombolytic agents is of great significance for more effective treatment of cardiovascular diseases. The latest knowledge of the structure-function relationship of t-PA and u-PA and the progress in development of new thrombolytic agents are reviewed.