Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Apr 12;11(4):562.
doi: 10.3390/biom11040562.

Role of Thrombin in Central Nervous System Injury and Disease

Nathan A Shlobin  1 , Meirav Har-Even  2   3 , Ze'ev Itsekson-Hayosh  4   5 , Sagi Harnof  6 , Chaim G Pick  2   3   7   8
Affiliations
Review

Role of Thrombin in Central Nervous System Injury and Disease

Nathan A Shlobin et al. Biomolecules. .

Abstract

Thrombin is a Na+-activated allosteric serine protease of the chymotrypsin family involved in coagulation, inflammation, cell protection, and apoptosis. Increasingly, the role of thrombin in the brain has been explored. Low concentrations of thrombin are neuroprotective, while high concentrations exert pathological effects. However, greater attention regarding the involvement of thrombin in normal and pathological processes in the central nervous system is warranted. In this review, we explore the mechanisms of thrombin action, localization, and functions in the central nervous system and describe the involvement of thrombin in stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage, neurodegenerative diseases, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and primary central nervous system tumors. We aim to comprehensively characterize the role of thrombin in neurological disease and injury.

Keywords: TBI; blood–brain barrier; glioblastoma; neurodegenerative diseases; neuroinflammation; protease-activated receptor; prothrombin; thrombin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No disclosures.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relevance of thrombin to neurological disease and injury. The role of thrombin in epilepsy, CNS infections, mild traumatic brain injury, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, and primary CNS tumors continues to be investigated.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Role of thrombin in cellular protection and apoptosis. At low concentrations, thrombin has anti-inflammatory effects and is involved in cellular protection and endothelial barrier stabilization. At high concentrations, thrombin leads to endothelial barrier disruption.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Di Cera E. Thrombin. Mol. Asp. Med. 2008;29:203–254. doi: 10.1016/j.mam.2008.01.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Di Cera E., Page M.J., Bah A., Bush-Pelc L.A., Garvey L.C. Thrombin allostery. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2007;9:1291–1306. doi: 10.1039/b616819a. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wells C.M., Di Cera E. Thrombin is a sodium ion activated enzyme. Biochemistry. 1992;31:11721–11730. doi: 10.1021/bi00162a008. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Posma J., Posthuma J., Spronk H. Coagulation and non-coagulation effects of thrombin. J. Thromb. Haemost. 2016;14:1908–1916. doi: 10.1111/jth.13441. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ma L., Dorling A. The roles of thrombin and protease-activated receptors in inflammation. Semin. Immunopathol. 2012;34:63–72. doi: 10.1007/s00281-011-0281-9. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources