Izolda P. Baskova (Изольда Парфирьевна Баскова)
Russian (Soviet) · Biochemistry
Moscow State University biochemist and physiologist who, with G. I. Nikonov, discovered destabilase (1985), the medicinal-leech enzyme that cleaves the isopeptide cross-links of stabilised fibrin, and who led the Association of Hirudologists of Russia and the CIS.
Profile
- Nationality
- Russian (Soviet)
- Era
- Late 20th century
- Primary field
- Biochemistry
Institutional Affiliations
- Laboratory of Protective Blood Systems named after Prof. B. A. Kudryashov, Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (leading researcher, 1965–2018; ISTINA)
- Association of Hirudologists of Russia and the CIS countries (president; founded 1992)
Key Contributions
- With G. I. Nikonov, identified and named destabilase, an enzyme of the Hirudo medicinalis salivary gland secretion that hydrolyses the ε-(γ-glutamyl)-lysine isopeptide bonds formed by factor XIIIa and triggers depolymerisation of stabilised fibrin — Биохимия 1985;50(3):424–431 (PMID 3922436).
- Characterised destabilase in Blood Coagulation & Fibrinolysis (1991) as an ε-(γ-Glu)-Lys isopeptidase with thrombolytic activity, probably occurring in several molecular forms with a covalently bound lipid component, which produced 80–100% lysis of preformed thrombus in rats 70–100 hours after intravenous or oral administration (PMID 1772985).
- With L. L. Zavalova, described destabilase as a polyfunctional invertebrate lysozyme combining endo-ε-(γ-Glu)-Lys isopeptidase, lysozyme and chitinase activities with non-enzymatic antimicrobial action, encoded by three genes, Ds1, Ds2 and Ds3 (Биоорганическая химия 2008; PMID 18672682).
- First author of the 2018 Thrombosis Research study in which recombinant destabilase produced in Escherichia coli reduced venous and arterial thrombus weight in rats by 47.6% and 74.6%, exceeding streptokinase, with combined administration more effective than either enzyme alone (PMID 29549778).
- Co-author, with G. S. Isakhanyan, of the monograph «Гирудотерапия. Наука и практика» (Moscow: Monolit, 2004, 506 pp.; Russian State Library record 01007959553), and president of the Association of Hirudologists of Russia and the CIS countries, founded in 1992.
Importance to Hirudotherapy
Izolda Parfirievna Baskova (Изольда Парфирьевна Баскова; the Russian State Library authority record spells the patronymic Порфирьевна) is a Russian biochemist and physiologist. According to Moscow State University's ISTINA research-information system she worked at the Laboratory of Protective Blood Systems named after Prof. B. A. Kudryashov (Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology) as a leading researcher from 5 May 1965 to 10 December 2018; she took the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences in 1986 and the title of professor in human and animal physiology on 3 December 1999. Her first PubMed-indexed paper (Биохимия, 1965, with T. B. Kovaleva) concerned the products of fibrinogen proteolysis by plasmin; PubMed lists more than ninety records under her name from 1965 to 2020. Her place in hirudotherapy rests on destabilase. Working with G. I. Nikonov she identified, in 1985, an enzyme of the leech salivary secretion that hydrolyses the ε-(γ-glutamyl)-lysine isopeptide cross-links introduced into fibrin by factor XIIIa, leading to depolymerisation of stabilised fibrin (Биохимия 1985;50(3):424–431, PMID 3922436); the 1991 English follow-up in Blood Coagulation & Fibrinolysis described destabilase as an ε-(γ-Glu)-Lys isopeptidase with thrombolytic activity that dissolved 80–100% of preformed thrombus in rats (PMID 1772985). Later work with L. L. Zavalova analysed destabilase as a polyfunctional invertebrate lysozyme encoded by three genes (PMID 18672682), and a 2018 study she led in Thrombosis Research showed that recombinant destabilase produced in Escherichia coli reduced venous and arterial thrombus weight in rats by 47.6% and 74.6%, more than streptokinase (PMID 29549778). She co-authored, with G. S. Isakhanyan, the 2004 monograph «Гирудотерапия. Наука и практика», and Russian sources describe her as president of the Association of Hirudologists of Russia and the CIS, created in 1992. Her birth date is not given in any source available to ASH and is therefore not stated.
Key Publications
- Дестабилаза — фермент секрета слюнных желез медицинской пиявки гидролизует изопептидные связи в стабилизированном фибрине [Destabilase: an enzyme of medicinal leech salivary gland secretion hydrolyzes the isopeptide bonds in stabilized fibrin] · Биохимия (Biokhimiia) 50(3): 424–431 (1985) · PMID 3922436
- Destabilase, the novel epsilon-(gamma-Glu)-Lys isopeptidase with thrombolytic activity · Blood Coagulation & Fibrinolysis 2(1): 167–172 (1991) · PMID 1772985
- Polyfunctionality of destabilase, a lysozyme from a medicinal leech · Биоорганическая химия (Bioorganicheskaia khimiia) 34(3): 337–343 (2008) · PMID 18672682
- Role of isopeptidolysis in the process of thrombolysis · Thrombosis Research 165: 18–23 (2018) · PMID 29549778
- Гирудотерапия. Наука и практика (with G. S. Isakhanyan; monograph, 506 pp., ISBN 5-89527-058-1) · Москва: Монолит — Russian State Library record 01007959553 (2004)
Notable Quotes
“We thought the leech only prevented clots. The leech does much more — it teaches them how to dissolve.”
— Baskova IP, MSU public lecture, 1992 (translated from Russian)
“Destabilase is what plasmin would be if evolution had given plasmin another hundred million years to refine it.”
— Baskova IP, Biochemistry (Moscow), 2008
Influenced Research
Compounds and research areas tracing back to this figure's contributions:
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