Novel drug delivery systems for hirudin-based product development and clinical applications
Systematic review published in International journal of biological macromolecules (2025)
Abstract
Hirudin, a natural biological polypeptide macromolecule secreted by the salivary glands of medicinal leech, is a specific thrombin inhibitor with multiple favourable bioactivities, including anti-coagulation, anti-fibrotic, and anti-tumour. Despite several anticoagulants have been widely applied in clinic, hirudin shows advantages in reducing the incidence of bleeding side effects by virtue of its high specificity in binding to thrombin. As a result, hirudin has been tested in clinical practice to prevent and treat several complex diseases. However, the application of this polypeptide macromolecule is compromised by its low bioavailability and bioactivity due to poor serum stability and susceptibility to protease degradation in vivo. To overcome these drawbacks, several studies have proposed novel drug delivery systems (NDDSs) to prevent the degradation and increase the targeting efficiency of hirudin. This systematic review summarises the clinical research on hirudin, including its classification and bioactivities, and highlights the opportunities and challenges in the clinical use of hirudin. The NDDSs designed to enhance the bioavailability and bioactivity of hirudin are discussed to explore its application in the treatment of related diseases. This review may considerably contribute to the advancement of delivery science and technology, particularly in the context of polypeptide-based therapeutics.
Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.
Summary
Hirudin, a natural biological polypeptide macromolecule secreted by the salivary glands of medicinal leech, is a specific thrombin inhibitor with multiple favourable bioactivities, including anti-coagulation, anti-fibrotic, and anti-tumour.
Why This Matters for Hirudotherapy
This systematic review summarizes clinical research on hirudin — a polypeptide secreted by medicinal leech salivary glands that functions as a specific thrombin inhibitor with anti-coagulation, anti-fibrotic, and anti-tumour bioactivities — and surveys novel drug delivery systems (NDDSs) proposed to overcome its poor serum stability and susceptibility to protease degradation in vivo. The topic is centrally relevant to hirudotherapy and ASH's domain because hirudin is a key bioactive constituent of the leech salivary secretome, and the review directly addresses pharmaceutical challenges in translating this leech-derived peptide into effective therapeutics by improving bioavailability and targeting efficiency. As a systematic review, it synthesizes existing literature rather than generating new experimental or clinical data; the abstract does not provide specific quantitative outcomes, comparative efficacy results, or performance metrics for individual NDDSs.
Citation
Novel drug delivery systems for hirudin-based product development and clinical applications.
Mo L et al. · International journal of biological macromolecules, 2025
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