Enzymes in Medicine and Industry.

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Enzymes in Medicine and Industry

Enzymology is a critical part of understanding the cause of diseases. Most genetic diseases are a result of a particular enzyme deficiency.

Therapeutic enzymes can be used as direct pharmaceutical products e.g. in the treatment of genetic disorders that could lead to an enzyme deficiency. One example is the use of blood clotting factors to treat haemoplilia, or the opposite where proteases are used to degrade fibrin (4). Also some enzymes are used to help diagnose diseases, for example glucose is always measured by an enzyme based test utilising glucose oxidase. Diabetics use strips of paper impregnated with glucose oxidase to monitor their blood sugar. However, the presence of enzymes where they should not be is also a symptom of disease. For example when the liver is diseased or damaged, enzymes only found normally in the liver leak into the bloodstream. Testing the blood for these activities is used to confirm liver damage (1). Enzymes can also be used to aid digestion, both in humans and animals. In humans, enzymes are used to supplement the natural amylase, lipase and protease produced normally by the pancreas. Many ethnic groups also have a problem