Marine Anticoagulants and Antithrombotics
A special issue of Marine Drugs (ISSN 1660-3397).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2016) | Viewed by 11979
Special Issue Editors
Interests: glycobiology; glycosaminoglycans; NMR spectroscopy; anticoagulation; antithrombosis; marine sulfated glycans
Interests: glycobiology; glycosaminoglycans; NMR spectroscopy; structural glycobiology; anticoagulation; antithrombosis; marine sulfated glycans
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cardiovascular diseases are unquestionably the main cause of death in the world. For example, the World Health Organization stated that in 2011 alone, approximately 7 and 6.2 million people have died, respectively, from ischemic heart disease and stroke - the two top causes of mortality reported for that year. Curiously, the third leading cause is lower respiratory infection, which have caused 3.2 million deaths that same year. This figure comprises a little less than 4 times the rate of the first two causes of death, combined. Considering that 55 million is the estimated number of deaths in world in the year of 2011, the two first causes, combined, comprise something close to 25% of the total deaths worldwide. Based on these numbers, it is evident that there is a high demand for anticoagulant/antithrombotic agents in the global pharmaceutical market.
The naturally occurring sulfated polysaccharide heparin is the most frequently employed anticoagulant/antithrombotic agent used so far. However, clinically speaking, the therapy based on heparin presents several side-effects, such as a propensity for developing thrombocytopenia, hemorrhagic consequences; ineffectiveness in congenital or acquired antithrombin deficiencies, incapacity to inhibit thrombin bound to fibrin, extremely variable bioavailability, and inherent structural complexity and heterogeneity. Hence, the research for new, potential anticoagulant/antithrombotic agents is highly required, especially nowadays, considering the great number of cardiovascular-associated deaths and diseases.
We believe that marine-sourced compounds are promising alternatives for new anticoagulant/antithrombotic agents, because they may present unique structures that are rarely seen, or perhaps even nonexistent, in terrestrial sources. Marine compounds can also present mechanisms of action in anticoagulation and antithrombosis that are different from those of heparin. These distinct activities can either compensate for the downsides of heparin therapy or even present new routes for anticoagulant and antithrombotic therapy. We have therefore decided to develop this Special Issue entitled “Marine Anticoagulants and Antithrombotics”. As guest editors, we invite you to contribute a paper from your research to this Special Issue of Marine Drugs. We believe that your contribution is highly important for launching future new anticoagulant/antithrombotic agents that may serve as alternatives to heparin, or at least as co-adjuvants to heparin treatment.
Dr. Paulo A.S. Mourão
Dr. Vitor H. Pomin
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Marine Drugs is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- anticoagulant
- antithrombin
- antithrombotic
- biomacromolecules
- blood coagulation (co)factors
- drug development
- drug discovery
- drug research
- heparin
- heparin cofactor II
- marine algae
- marine invertebrate
- marine anticoagulant
- marine antithrombotic
- organic molecules
- seaweed
- serpin-dependent anticoagulation
- serpin-independent anticoagulation
- synthetic molecules
- thrombin
