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Crystal structure of NMC-4 fab anti-von Willebrand factor A1 domain

R Celikel1, Madhusudan, K I Varughese

  • 1Roon Research Center for Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California 92037, USA.

We have solved the crystal structure of the Fab fragment of NMC-4, a mouse monoclonal antibody that binds to the A1 domain of von Willebrand factor (vWF). Two Asp and three Tyr residues in the complementarity determining regions 1 and 3 of the heavy chain exhibited a spatial orientation suggestive of a dominant role in establishing contact with the antigen. A cluster of Asp and Tyr residues occurs also in a region of the platelet glycoprotein (GP) Ib alpha amino terminal domain known to be critically involved in vWF binding. Thus, the structural information obtained with NMC-4 may prove relevant to understand the stereochemical bases of the GP Ib alpha-vWF interaction essential for thrombus formation at sites of vascular lesion.

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