Relationship of contact activation cofactor (CAC) procoagulant activity to kininogen

Contact activation cofactor (CAC) facilitates the interaction of factors XI and XII. Patients lacking CAC have a coagulation defect and are deficient in high molecular weight kininogen. The coincidence of these two defects suggests that a single protein may be responsible for both physiologic functions. Immunologic and activity studies have been made on isolated CAC to clarify the relationship between CAC and kininogen. CAC forms a single precipitin line with anti-human kininogen, and antikininogen neutralizes CAC activity. CAC and high molecular weight kininogen show a reaction of identity on immunodiffusion against rabbit anti-CAC. Anti-CAC forms two precipitin lines with normal plasma which can be identified as high and low molecular weight kininogen. Monospecific immunoabsorbed anti-CAC forms a single precipitin line with plasma high molecular weight kininogen and neutralizes CAC activity. Cleavage of kinin fragment from CAC by insoluble trypsin or kalikrein does not proportionally reduce procoagulant activity. CAC neutralized by anti-CAC can release kinins on exposure to trypsin or kallikrein. The results support the conclusions that CAC procoagulant activity is a function of high molecular weight kininogen, that antigenic determinants unique to high molecular weight kininogen are shared by the CAC portion of the molecule, and that the clotting reactions may occur at a site removed from the kinin peptide.