Functional characterization of an abnormal factor XII molecule (F XII Bern)

An 18-year-old healthy woman was found to have cross-reacting material (CRM)-positive factor XII (F XII) deficiency, F XII clotting activity was less than 0.01 U/mL, whereas F XII antigen was 0.11 U/mL. An F XII inhibitor was excluded. To partially characterize the molecular defect of the abnormal F XII, immunologic and functional studies were performed on the proposita's plasma. The abnormal F XII was a single chain molecule with the same molecular weight (80 Kd) and the same isoelectric points (pl, 5.9 to 6.8) as normal F XII. Dextran sulfate activation of the proposita's plasma showed no proteolytic cleavage of F XII even after 120 minutes, whereas F XII in pooled normal plasma, diluted 1:10 with CRM-negative F XII-deficient plasma, was completely cleaved after 40 minutes. Adsorption to kaolin was identical for both abnormal and normal F XII. In the presence of dextran sulfate and exogenous plasma kallikrein, the abnormal F XII was cleaved with the same rate as normal F XII. However, kallikrein-cleaved abnormal F XII was not able to cleave factor XI and plasma prekallikrein, in contrast to activated normal F XII. Thus, these studies show that the functional defect of this abnormal F XII, denoted as F XII Bern, is due to the lack of protease activity of the kallikrein-cleaved molecule. Therefore, the structural defect is likely to be located in the light chain region of F XII, containing the enzymatic active site.