Abstract
Heparin, a sulfated polysaccharide belonging to the family of glycosaminoglycans,
was discovered in the beginning of the 20th century and was initially identified as
a procoagulant isolated from liver tissue. After the first application in patients
approximately 30 years later, further purification identified the major as well as
minor, but important, component units of the complex chain mixtures constituting heparin
and the multiplex actions became a scientific challenge recently. A series of “Glycosaminoglycan
symposium—anticoagulant and nonanticoagulant actions” developed over the past 20 years
and focused on this topic has published research data in three issues of Seminars in Thrombosis & Hemostasis and in several other international scientific journals. The latest developments on
the methods of analysis, the synthesis, the degradation by heparanases and the nonanticoagulant
effects in tumor growth, in anti-inflammatory diseases, and in Alzheimer diseases
as presented in the 21st symposium are summarized in the present overview on the occasion
of the 40th anniversary of the journal with special reference to the journal's founding
Editor in Chief, Eberhard F. Mammen.
Keywords
glycosaminoglycans - heparin - low-molecular-weight heparin - thromboembolism - nonanticoagulant
effects
