A novel antithrombin domain dictates the journey's end of a proteinase

Ingrid M Verhamme1

  • 1From the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232 Ingrid.verhamme@vanderbilt.edu.

Antithrombin (AT) is an anticoagulant serpin that irreversibly inactivates the clotting proteinases factor Xa and thrombin by forming covalent complexes with them. Mutations in its critical domains, such as those that impair the conformational rearrangement required for proteinase inactivation, increase the risk of venous thrombosis. Águila et al. characterize for the first time the destabilizing effects of mutations in the region of AT that makes contact with the proteinase in the final acyl-enzyme complex. Their work adds new insight into the unique structural intricacies of the inhibitory mechanism.

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