Proteolytic inactivation of blood coagulation factor IX by thrombin

Coagulation factor IX is a vitamin K-dependent glycoprotein that circulates in blood as a precursor of a serine protease. Incubation of human factor IX with human alpha-thrombin resulted in a time and enzyme concentration-dependent cleavage of factor IX yielding a molecule composed of a heavy chain (mol wt 50,000) and a doublet light chain (mol wt 10,000). The proteolysis of factor IX by thrombin was significantly inhibited by physiological levels of calcium ions. Under nondenaturing conditions, the heavy and light chains of thrombin-cleaved factor IX remained strongly associated, but these chains were readily separated by gel filtration in the presence of denaturants. Amino-terminal sequence analyses of the isolated heavy and light chains of thrombin-cleaved human factor IX indicated that thrombin cleaved peptide bonds at Arg327-Val328 and Arg338-Ser339 in this molecule. Comparable cleavages were observed in bovine factor IX by bovine thrombin and occurred at Arg319-Ser320 and Arg339-Ser340. Essentially, a complete loss of factor IX procoagulant activity was associated with its cleavage by thrombin. Furthermore, thrombin-cleaved factor IX neither developed coagulant activity after treatment with factor XIa nor inhibited the coagulant activity of native factor IX. These data indicate that thrombin cleaves factor IX near its active site serine residue, rendering it incapable of activating factor X. Whether or not this reaction occurs in vivo is unknown.