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Thrombin interactions

Enrico Di Cera1

  • 1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA. enrico@biochem.wustl.edu

Chest
|September 13, 2003
PubMed

After generation from prothrombin, thrombin plays multiple roles in the blood coagulation cascade that are mediated by interaction with a number of physiologic substrates, effectors, and inhibitors. Structural and mutagenesis studies have helped unravel the molecular basis of thrombin interactions in the context of both well-established and emerging new roles of the enzyme. The functional versatility of thrombin owes much to its evolutionary origin and results from structural determinants and mechanisms that can be exploited by pharmacologic intervention.

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