Tissue factor and the initiation of blood coagulation.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Y Nemerson.
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Tissue factor is a membrane-bound procoagulant protein that activates the extrinsic pathway of blood coagulation in the presence of factor VII and calcium. lambda Phage containing the tissue factor gene were isolated from a human placental cDNA library. The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence of the cDNAs indicates that tissue factor is synthesized as a higher molecular weight precursor with a leader sequence of 32 amino acids, while the mature protein is a single polypeptide chain composed of 263 residues. The derived primary structure of tissue factor has been confirmed by comparison to protein and peptide sequence data. The sequence of the mature protein suggests that there are three distinct domains: extracellular, residues 1-219; hydrophobic, residues 220-242; and cytoplasmic, residues 243-263. Three potential N-linked carbohydrate attachment sites occur in the extracellular domain. The amino acid sequence of tissue factor shows no significant homology with the vitamin K-dependent serine proteases, coagulation cofactors, or any other protein in the National Biomedical Research Foundation sequence data bank (Washington, DC).
The binding of factor VII and tissue factor produces a membrane-associated proteolytic complex which may be the primary biological initiator of coagulation. Homogeneous tissue factor, a glycoprotein purified from bovine brain, was reconstituted into phospholipid vesicles ranging from neutral (100% phosphatidylcholine) to highly charged (40% phosphatidylserine) with octyl glucoside. The vesicles were characterized with respect to size and tissue factor content and orientation. Employing data from protease digestion, we deduced that tissue factor is randomly oriented; thus, its effective concentration in these vesicles was half its total concentration. In all binding experiments, 1 mol of enzyme was bound per mole of available activator at saturation. This stoichiometry was not affected by the form of the enzyme employed or the phospholipid composition of the vesicles. With tissue factor incorporated into phosphatidylcholine vesicles, the Kd was 13.2 +/- 0.72 nM for factor VII and 4.54 +/- 1.37 nM for factor VIIa. Thus, the one-chain zymogen binds to the activator with only slightly less affinity than the more active two-chain enzyme. Active-site modification of factor VII and factor VIIa with diisopropyl fluorophosphate resulted in tighter binding of the derivatized molecules. Inclusion of phosphatidylserine in the vesicles altered the binding both quantitatively and qualitatively. With increasing acidic phospholipid, the concentration of enzyme required to occupy half the activator sites was decreased. In addition, positive cooperativity was observed, the degree of which depended on the vesicle charge and the form of the enzyme. An explicit two-site cooperative binding model is presented which fits these complex data. In this model, tissue factor is at least a dimer with two interacting enzyme binding sites.
One way in which coagulation may be initiated is by the action of factor VIIa (a plasma serine protease) and tissue factor (a membrane-bound lipid-dependent glycoprotein). We show that in the absence of either factor VIIa or tissue factor, the activation of the natural coagulation substrates, factors IX and X, is not detectable; i.e., tissue factor is an essential activator. We propose that the reaction is fully ordered; that is, the enzyme-activator complex picks up substrate to form a ternary product forming species. Our model precludes the formation of enzyme-substrate and activator-substrate complexes. We have derived equations for the two possible variations of this model: one in which product formation is accompanied by the release of the enzyme-activator complex and the other in which product, free enzyme, and free activator are formed with each catalytic cycle. Our data support only the former which is consistent with both steady-state and rapid equilibrium assumptions. The model is supported by experiments using a monoclonal anti-tissue factor antibody, which affects only the Km app, and a modified form of factor VIIa, which, depending on the sequence in which reagents are added to the reaction, either decreases the Vmax or increases the Km app. We present equations describing the initial velocity of these reactions. Utilizing dilution-jump experiments, we show that the system is hysteretic and suggest that this phenomenon is due to a slow release of enzyme from activator. However, the kinetically determined dissociation constant of enzyme and activator, previously found to be 4.5 nM under equilibrium conditions, was estimated to be 0.04-0.09 nM. Accordingly, we examined other essential activation models in which the product-forming species consists of a complex of enzyme, activator, and substrate at a molar ratio of 1:1:1; none could account for the apparent tight binding of enzyme and activator. We therefore postulate an ordered addition, essential activation model in which the enzyme undergoes two conformational transformations: one as a consequence of binding to tissue factor, resulting in a species which binds to and hydrolyzes its natural substrates. The other conformational change in the enzyme is induced by substrate, resulting in a species which binds more tightly to its activator. Thus, we hypothesize a "conformational cage" which precludes the dissociation of enzyme from activator while significant concentrations of substrate are present.
Negatively charged phospholipids accelerate blood coagulation; one suggestion is that the binding of the gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-containing zymogens to these lipid surfaces increases their effective concentration as substrates. Alternatively, the charged phospholipids could enhance the direct interaction of substrate with the catalytic complex, which is localized at the membrane surface. We distinguished the alternatives by using prothrombin fragment 1 to compete with the substrate for membrane binding sites without interfering with the direct enzyme-substrate interaction. In a tissue factor-factor VIIa system containing neutral phospholipids (to which the substrate does not bind), prothrombin fragment 1 had no significant effect on factor X activation (Km, 877 +/- 111 nM and 791 +/- 103 nM, with and without prothrombin fragment 1, respectively). In contrast, in a system containing 30% phosphatidylserine, prothrombin fragment 1 displaced phospholipid-bound factor X, increasing the free factor X concentration and the reaction velocity in all 22 determinations. As the velocity increases correlated only with the free factor X concentration, we conclude that the free factor X concentration controls this reaction velocity. The Km in the 30% phosphatidylserine system, calculated using free factor X concentration, was 41 +/- 5 nM and 63 +/- 9 nM, with and without prothrombin fragment 1, respectively. Thus, the negatively charged lipids decreased the intrinsic Km by over 90%. The methodology employed should be applicable to ligand-receptor systems in which ligand binds nonspecifically to the membrane surface.
Tissue factor, a known initiator of blood coagulation, was found to be active in Triton X-100. A system consisting of tissue factor, factor VIIa, calcium ions, and coagulation factor X generated activated factor X at an appreciable rate. Based on this observation, we coupled human and bovine factor VII to a solid support. Each column bound tissue factor, solubilized in Triton X-100, in a species-specific manner. These interactions required calcium ions; when the columns were washed with detergent containing calcium ions, no tissue factor was eluted. When calcium ions were omitted from the eluant, tissue factor emerged as a sharp peak. Human tissue factor was extracted from an acetone brain powder into 2% Triton X-100. This extract, made 10 mM in CaCl2, was passed over a factor VII column. Human factor VII (1.2 mg) was coupled to 30 ml of Affi-Gel 15. This column bound approximately equal to 15 micrograms of human tissue factor. The eluted material was approximately equal to 25% pure. Final purification was achieved by gel filtration after chymotryptic digestion of contaminants. The tissue factor activity was stable to this treatment. The molecular weight determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate/PAGE (approximately equal to 46,000) was also unchanged by chymotrypsin. The final material was a single band on PAGE, demonstrated similar resistance to tryptic and chymotryptic digestion as bovine tissue factor, and had approximately the same specific coagulant activity as the previously purified bovine material. Tissue factor was also purified from human placenta, yielding a similar protein. A partial 28-residue sequence of the latter has been obtained.
One way in which coagulation may be initiated is via the tissue factor pathway in which a non-proteolytic enzyme activator, tissue factor, complexes with a plasma protein, factor VII. Factor VII is the zymogen of a serine protease, factor VIIa. While factor VII-tissue factor has coagulant activity, upon conversion to factor VIIa the activity increases about 120-fold. We now show that tissue factor markedly accelerates the conversion of factor VII to factor VIIa. Thus, this essential coagulation cofactor is clearly bifunctional.
Factor VII has been purified to homogeneity from bovine plasma by a procedure that includes affinity purification on an immunoadsorbent column. Recovery was determined by both coagulant assay and liquid scintillation counting, using 3H-factor VII as an internal standard. The purification factor calculated by both methods was approximately 120,000-fold, with a final yield of approximately 18%. Homogeneity was assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The material migrated as a single polypeptide chain of 53,000 daltons, and following activation by factor Xa, the one-chain zymogen was quantitatively converted to two-chain factor VIIa. Conversion of affinity-purified factor VII to factor VIIa resulted in up to a 119-fold activation of the coagulant activity, which is 2.7-4 times greater than the activatability reported for factor VII prepared by other methods. Zur et al. calculated that pure factor VII, uncontaminated by traces of factor VIIa, would be activated 123-fold upon conversion to factor VIIa. The close agreement between observed activatability of affinity-purified factor VII and the theoretical prediction suggests that we have isolated factor VII essentially free of factor VIIa. The purification data from three lots of bovine plasma yield an estimate for the plasma concentration of factor VII from 10.1 nM to 18.5 nM.
Factor VII, a single-chain zymogen, has sufficient proteolytic activity to initiate blood coagulation. The reason that coagulation does not occur continuously is that the zymogen like its 2-chain derivative enzyme, factor VIIa, absolutely requires tissue factor. The latter, a lipid-dependent glycoprotein, is not normally present in the blood. Upon tissue injury, however, coagulation is initiated by the activation of factors IX and X. The relationship of these events to the possibility that hemophilia A and B are tissue factor-dependent diseases is discussed.
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Tissue factor (tissue thromboplastin, factor III), an initiator of coagulation, has been purified 142,000-fold to homogeneity from bovine brain. The protein is an integral membrane glycoprotein with an apparent molecular weight of 43,000 as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The apoprotein was first purified by extraction with Triton X-100 and repeated preparative polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in sodium dodecyl sulfate. Antiserum was produced against a few micrograms of purified apoprotein and was used to construct an immunoadsorbent column. The column was then used for affinity purification of the apoprotein directly from the Triton X-100 extract, thereby significantly increasing the amount of purified protein produced. The purification scheme may be generally useful for the rapid and large scale purification of membrane proteins. Tryptic digestion of the apoprotein in Triton X-100 cleaved a peptide of approximately 3000 daltons without affecting the activity. The activity was recovered directly from stained SDS polyacrylamide gels, and the profile of recovered activity corresponded directly with the stained bands. The activity shifted along with the protein band following tryptic digestion, thus demonstrating that the protein observed on the gels is tissue factor. The coagulant activity of the purified apoprotein was reconstituted by the addition of phospholipid. Optimal activity was observed at phospholipid to protein ratios (w/w) greater than 450:1.
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Blood coagulation is a system in which a series of zymogens of serine proteases are sequentially activated. In this regard, there is little fundamental difference between coagulation and the activation of the homologous pancreatic zymogens. There are, however, several aspects unique to coagulation which are discussed in detail. These are (1) the requirement for a high-molecular-weight protein or lipoprotein cofactor for optimal reaction rates, (2) the requirement for membranes or a membrane-like surface which further distinguishes this system; (3) a metal ion requirement for most reactions (in contrast to the pancreatic serine proteases) relating to the content of the newly described amino acid gamma-carboxyglutamic acid in the four vitamin K-dependent proteins, regarding which recent data relating to the metal binding sites on prothrombin are discussed in detail; and (4) the uniqueness of the initiating reactions in comparison to those which activate the pancreatic zymogens, insofar as no enzyme corresponding to enterokinase has been identified. The implications of this phenomenon are analyzed with particular attention to the potential role of the endogenous activity of certain zymogens in initiating coagulation. The article deals finally with the specific problems attendant on analyzing a system in which many serine proteases lacking absolute specificity are generated and regulated.