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Antithrombin and heparin

R Carrell1, R Skinner, M Warden

  • 1Department of Haematology, University of Cambridge, MRC Centre, Hills Road, Cambridge, UK.

Molecular Medicine Today
|August 1, 1995
PubMed

Antithrombin, the main inhibitor of thrombosis in blood, is bound and activated by the heparin-like side-chains that line the small vasculature. We now have good depictions of the heparin-binding site on antithrombin, and of the way in which mutations at this site cause thrombotic disease. The interaction of heparin with antithrombin is, however, a kinetic one, with binding being followed by formation of a complex with thrombin and then release from the heparin. Our understanding of the processes involved is currently based on crystallographic models but, for a mobile mechanism, these merely provide snapshots - what is needed is a movie.

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