The Life and Vision of a Pioneer: A Tribute to Tage Astrup, D.Sc., Dr.Med.h.c.

 

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It is with profound sadness that I report the loss a pioneer in the field of fibrinolysis with the passing of Tage Astrup in November 2006. He was born in 1908, in the picturesque town of Edsbjerg on the west coast of Denmark. After graduating from the Royal Polytechnical College in Copenhagen, and working in Professor Lund's laboratory at Arrhus, he went to the Biological Institute of the Carlsberg Foundation in Copenhagen, and engaged in studies of blood coagulation, leading to his doctorate thesis, entitled “Biochemistry of Blood Coagulation,” at the University of Copenhagen. In 1961, he moved his group to Washington, DC, to a new research institute located at the James F. Mitchell Foundation, where an international group of scientists gathered under his directorship. I was greatly privileged to work with this group for 4 years.

He returned to Denmark in 1975 and continued to be active up to the time of his death. His love was for the field of fibrinolysis. During a span of 40 years, he had published close to 200 articles on blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. When the world was still concentrating on the hemostatic and antithrombotic action of the fibrinolytic enzymes, he had already completed mapping the distribution of the plasminogen activators within every major organ of the body,[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] leading him to the realization that the fibrinolytic system is endowed with a much larger role in the body's function. He developed the fibrin plate method, which became the standard quantitative technique for more than three decades.[9] Soon, it became all too familiar to his colleagues to hear his dictum that fibrinolysis is important in every physiologic and pathologic condition. This paradigm was proven correct again and again, first in tissue repair,[10] [11] [12] [13] [14] then in atherogenesis,[15] [16] [17] [18] and today, in everything from embryogenesis to tumor growth and metastasis.[19] [20] [21] As with other pioneers, he achieved his goals with what today would be considered as relatively crude and simple tools. Today, with molecular and genetic techniques, members of the plasminogen-plasmin system, in particular urokinase-type plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1, are known to be involved in just about every biologic process. It is with great pride that I am dedicating this issue of the Seminars in Thrombosis and Hemostasis to this great scientist and pioneer.

REFERENCES

• 1 Astrup T, Sterndorff I. Fibrinolytic activity of tissue extracts and of trypsin.  Nature. 1952;  170(4336) 981
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• 2 Astrup T, Sterndorff I. A fibrinolytic system in human milk.  Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1953;  84(3) 605-608
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• 3 Astrup T, Sterndorff I. The plasminogen activator in urine and the urinary trypsin inhibitor.  Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 1955;  7(3) 239-245
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• 4 Astrup T. The biological significance of fibrinolysis.  Lancet. 1956;  271(6942) 565-568
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• 5 Astrup T. Fibrinolysis in the organism.  Blood. 1956;  11(9) 781-806
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• 6 Astrup T, Sterndorff I. Fibrinolysokinase activity in animal and human tissue.  Acta Physiol Scand. 1956;  37(1) 40-47
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• 7 Astrup T, Sterndorff I. The plasminogen activator in animal tissue.  Acta Physiol Scand. 1956;  36(3) 250-255
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• 8 Astrup T, Albrechtsen O K. Estimation of the plasminogen activator and the trypsin inhibitor in animal and human tissues.  Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 1957;  9(3) 233-243
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• 9 Astrup T, Mullertz S. The fibrin plate method for estimating fibrinolytic activity.  Arch Biochem Biophys. 1952;  40(2) 346-351
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• 10 Astrup T. Physiology of fibrinolysis.  Thromb Diath Haemorrh. 1961;  6(suppl 1) 47-59
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• 11 Kwaan H C, Astrup T. Fibrinolytic activity of reparative connective tissue.  J Pathol Bacteriol. 1964;  87 409-414
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• 12 Kwaan H C, Astrup T. Localization of fibrinolytic activity in myocardial infarcts in rats.  Thromb Diath Haemorrh. 1964;  12 407-417
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• 13 Astrup T, Glas P, Kok P. Lung fibrinolytic activity and bovine high mountain disease.  Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1968;  127(2) 373-377
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• 15 Astrup T, Buluk K. Thromboplastic and fibrinolytic activities in vessels of animals.  Circ Res. 1963;  13 253-260
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• 16 Kwaan H C, Astrup T. Aortic arteriosclerosis in rabbits fed inhibitors of fibrinolysis.  Arch Pathol. 1964;  78 474-482
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• 17 Astrup T. The pathogenesis of arterio-sclerosis.  Minn Med. 1964;  47 373-382
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• 18 Kwaan H C, Astrup T. Fibrinolytic activity in human atherosclerotic coronary arteries.  Circ Res. 1967;  21(6) 799-804
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• 19 Kwaan H C. The plasminogen-plasmin system in malignancy.  Cancer Metastasis Rev. 1992;  11(3-4) 291-311
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• 20 Astrup T. Fibrinolysis: past and present, a reflection of fifty years.  Semin Thromb Hemost. 1991;  17(3) 161-174
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• 21 Kwaan H C. The biologic role of components of the plasminogen-plasmin system.  Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 1992;  34(5) 309-316
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