Nattokinase: an updated critical review on challenges and perspectives

Natto, a fermented soybean food, has been consumed by oriental people for more than 1000 years. Nattokinase, formerly called subtilisin NAT is a well studied protease of microbial origin that possesses fibrinolytic (anti-clotting) activities. Due to its strong fibrinolytic and thrombolytic activity, Nattokinase is regarded as a precious dietary supplement or nutraceutical for the oral thrombolytic therapy. Nattokinase is witnessed to be a useful enzyme for the com-plete removal of the vitreous and associated proliferative tissues in proliferative vitreo retinal disorders. This review focuses on the native and recombinant Nattokinase from bacteria and other sources, their production, purification, immobilization and nano-immobilization studies, which aid in ameliorating their properties to suit the targeted industrial applications. Recent development in these fields are presented and discussed, and prospective developments are suggested.