Heparanase patents: Dim past and bright future

Heparanase is an enzyme expressed normally in platelets and in placenta at high levels, and is undetectable in other normal human tissues. Heparanase degrades the heparan sulfate saccharides of the extracellular matrix. The real problem starts when tumor cells express heparanase; this results in increased tumor angiogenesis, aggressiveness, and metastasis. Patents filed on heparanase detection, suppression, and function modulation were not translated yet into products (tested in Phase III trials). The mismatch between researchers, clinicians, and pharmaceutical companies, which identified the first 20 years of heparanase research, is changing and will hopefully foster the arrival of some of these patent inventions for clinical applicability.