Nattokinase: An Oral Antithrombotic Agent for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

Natto, a fermented soybean product, has been consumed as a traditional food in Japan for thousands of years. Nattokinase (NK), a potent blood-clot dissolving protein used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, is produced by the bacterium Bacillus subtilis during the fermentation of soybeans to produce Natto. NK has been extensively studied in Japan, Korea, and China. Recently, the fibrinolytic (anti-clotting) capacity of NK has been recognized by Western medicine. The National Science Foundation in the United States has investigated and evaluated the safety of NK. NK is currently undergoing a clinical trial study (Phase II) in the USA for atherothrombotic prevention. Multiple NK genes have been cloned, characterized, and produced in various expression system studies. Recombinant technology represents a promising approach for the production of NK with high purity for its use in antithrombotic applications. This review covers the history, benefit, safety, and production of NK. Opportunities for utilizing plant systems for the large-scale production of NK, or for the production of edible plants that can be used to provide oral delivery of NK without extraction and purification are also discussed.

Stepwise modifications of genetic parts reinforce the secretory production of nattokinase in Bacillus subtilis

“…These two parts are joined to the Nterminus of the mature polypeptide (Nakamura et al, 1992). Compared to other fibrinolytic enzymes (urokinase, t-PA and streprokinase), NK has the advantage of no side effects, low cost and long lifetime, has the potential to be used as a drug for treating cardiovascular disease and serves as a functional food additive (Cai et al, 2017a,b;Weng et al, 2017).…”

New EU criteria for endocrine disrupters

“…The highest quartile intake of total soy protein and of natto was also associated with decreased mortality on stroke, and for natto also decreased mortality in ischaemic heart disease. This cardioprotective effect from natto consumption may however be due to the presence of natto-kinase, a protein produced by the bacteria during the natto fermentation [313]. This may explain the discrepancy with the results obtained from a Chinese prospective cohort study (27,954 men and 35,303 women; 19 years follow-up) where there was no protective effects of soy protein/isoflavone consumption (plain tofu, dessert tofu and soybean drink) and CVD mortality.…”

Fibrinolytic Enzyme: Restoration Tool for Obliteration of Blood Clots

“…It's a formidable clot dissolving protein, obtained from Bacillus subtilis and used for myocardial infarction treatment [32], because its naturally have potential to dissolve clots and several other advantages such asorally administration, prolonged stay in body, efficacy and enhance body's yield of clotting agent including plasmin, urokinase, streptokinase etc [33]. NK is supercilious to other clotting agent as develop prolonged effect in bOdy by two ways:…”