Summary
The evolution of anticoagulant therapy for the prevention and treatment of thrombotic
disorders has progressed at a relatively modest pace considering the scope of the
problem and our current understanding of platelet biology, coagulation proteases,
and vascular science as they apply to protective haemostasis and pathologic thrombosis.
Recent observations, dedicated to cellular-based models of coagulation, provide fundamental
constructs, mechanistic clarity, and potentially unparalleled opportunity for accelerating
the development and wide-scale clinical use of safe, effective, regulatable and patient-specific
therapies. The following review introduces a novel domain of anticoagulant therapy
referred to as aptamers (derived from the Latin aptus – to fit), considering their history, development, and potential application in patient
care arenas.
Keywords
Aptamers - protein-binding oligonucleotides - anticoagulant therapy