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Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Helical Organization of Blood Coagulation Factor VIII on Lipid Nanotubes
Published on: June 3, 2014
Identification of a thrombin-interactive site within the FVIII A2 domain that is responsible for the cleavage at
Keiji Nogami1, Evgueni L Saenko, Masahiro Takeyama
1Department of Paediatrics, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Nara, Japan. roc-noga@naramed-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
FVIII is activated by cleavage at Arg(372), Arg(740), and Arg(1689) by thrombin. This study showed that an anti-A2 monoclonal antibody, with a specific epitope for residues 484-509, and anti-FVIII inhibitor alloantibodies with similar A2 epitopes, inhibited thrombin-catalyzed FVIII activation. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed that cleavage at Arg(372) but not at Arg(740) occurred at approximately fourfold decreased rate in the presence of anti-A2 antibody. Peptide 484-509 also inhibited co-factor activation, consistent with inhibition of cleavage at Arg(372). Direct binding studies using active-site modified thrombin showed that a 484-509 peptide as well as the anti-A2 antibodies blocked the A2-thrombin binding. Furthermore, covalent cross-linking was observed between the 484-509 peptide and thrombin following reaction with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide. Mutant A2 molecules in which the clustered basic residues in this sequence were converted to alanine were used to assess the binding reactions in a surface plasmon resonance-based assay. Mutants R484A, R489A, R490A, H497A and K499A possessed two to fivefold lower affinity than wild-type A2. These findings demonstrate that clustered basic residues within the 484-509 region of the A2 domain play a part of key role in thrombin-binding, which is responsible for thrombin-catalyzed FVIII activation by cleavage at Arg(372).
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