Variant von Willebrand disease with defective binding to factor VIII: the first case from Japan

This is the first case of variant von Willebrand disease (vWD) with defective binding of von Willebrand factor (vWF) to factor VIII (F.VIII) to be diagnosed in Japan. An 8-year-old Japanese girl, who had had recurrent episodes of subcutaneous hematomas, showed a prolonged A-PTT, low F.VIII (F.VIII:C 4 U/dl, FVIII:Ag 4 U/dl), and normal level of vWF (RCof 80 U/dl, vWF:Ag 60 U/dl). The patient's vWF-multimeric structure on SDS agarose gel electrophoresis was similar to that in normal subjects. A F.VIII binding assay was performed, as described by Nishino et al. (1989). F.VIII binding (y) of vWF was expressed as a function of the amount of immobilized vWF (x) on the wells of a polystyrene plate. Regression lines from normal subjects and the patient had a high correlation coefficient. F.VIII binding capacity was estimated by the slope of the regression lines. The slope for normal subjects showed y = 0.002 + 0.653x, while, in contrast, the slope for the patient showed y = 0.005 + 0.009x, indicating that the capacity of vWF from the patient to bind F.VIII was markedly decreased. Exons 18-20 of the vWF gene, covering the first 132 amino acids of mature vWF subunit from the patient, were sequenced, using the PCR amplification method. A point mutation C-->T at codon 816 in exon 19, predicting a substitution of Trp for Arg(53), was characterized; this was inherited by the patient from her mother.