Looking Forward to the Future of Heparin: New Sources, Developments and Applications

The year of 2016 marks the centenary celebration of the discovery of heparin, a very complex and heterogeneous macromolecule used as a lifesaving drug. Approaching the centenary, many meetings occurred. These events actualize, in addition to the historical aspects, the research themes of current interest. This Special Issue, devoted to heparin, aims to provide interdisciplinary information regarding such research by combining aspects of chemical structures to those of biological activity and collating contributions on the following issues. One of the currently relevant issues is the pharmaco-biological activities of heparins depleted of anticoagulant activity, involving research ranging from antitumor to antiviral applications. The technological processes to obtain synthetic heparins, or oligomers with defined structures, represent another current area of research, as well as heparin as part of nanostructured systems. Following renewed interest by industrial and social committees on the alternative sources of swine heparin, there is a great deal of research focused on the structural peculiarities and pharmaco-biological activities of heparin extracted from bovine tissues, which is being assessed by the FDA for inclusion in Pharmacopoeia. Similarly sheep sources are of particular interest for Asian countries.