[Systemic enzyme therapy in diseases of the vascular system]

The treatment of autoimmune and immune complex diseases of the vascular bed consists--similarly as of immunopathologic processes of other systems--in the use of risky immunosuppressive agents and antiinflammatory as well as symptomatic therapy. In the article the author informs about the possibility to use in these indications (and in addition also in other angiologic diseases) the systemic enzyme therapy, residing in the oral application of high-dosed combinations of several animal and plant proteolytic enzymes. About four tens years of positive medical empirical experience have been supported by a concentrated sophisticated research and approximately 150 clinical studies according to GCP. These revealed in most autoimmune and immune complex diseases a surprisingly high effectiveness and complete harmlessness of the enzyme therapy. After the short introduction mentioning the important indications for enzyme therapy in the field of clinical immunology, the major attention is paid to the results of enzymotherapy in angiology. Strong evidence indicates that enzymotherapy ameliorates the disturbed composition and properties of blood and vessel walls, acts preventively as well as therapeutically in thromboses, thromboflebitides and consequences of venous insufficiency; it seems be prospective in afflictions of arterial bed, including vasculitides and glomerulonephritides, also. The key feature of enzymotherapy is the immunomodulatory activity. There exists a strong evidence for the favourable modulation of pathogenic autoantibodies, inhibition of the neogenesis of immune complexes and cleavage of their deposits, normalization of the T cell system, network of cytokines, adhesion molecules and inflammatory cascades. Besides the direct peptidolytic and proteolytic effects of hydrolases, the indirect effects realized in the course of interaction between the resorbed enzymes and their natural "partners"--antiproteases (mainly alfa-2-macroglobulin)--have become a topic of intensive research. The author feels, that systemic enzyme therapy should become a regular component of the treatment of immunopathologic processes in general and of angiologic diseases specially. (Ref. 42.).