Summary
A novel platelet agglutination inducer, agglucetin, was purified from the Formosan
Agkistrodon acutus snake venom. It migrated as a single band with an apparent molecular mass of 58.8
kDa and two distinct bands of 16.2/14.5 kDa under non-reducing and reducing conditions
by SDS-PAGE, respectively. Further confirmed by FPLC, electrospray ionization mass
spectrometry and 2D-PAGE, native agglucetin exists as a tetramer composed of disulfide-linked
α1, α2, β1 and β2 subunits. Partial N-terminal sequence of agglucetin subunit showed
a high degree of homology to those of C-type lectin-like glycoprotein (GP) Ib binding
proteins. Functional studies showed that agglucetin, in the absence of von Willebrand
factor (vWF), dose-dependently induced platelet agglutination and caused a negligible
elevation of intracellular Ca+2 mobilization and thromboxane B2 formation in human platelet suspensions. Anti-GP Ib monoclonal antibodies (mAbs),
AP1 or LJ-Ib1, specifically inhibited agglucetin-induced platelet agglutination in
a dose-dependent manner. However, EDTA, arietin (a long chain RGD-containing disintegrin),
7E3 (an anti-GP IIb/IIIa mAb), heparin, hirudin, PGE1, or indomethacin exhibited no inhibitory effect on agglucetin-induced platelet agglutination.
Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis revealed that FITC-agglucetin dose-dependently
bound to human formalin-fixed platelets in a saturable manner, and its binding was
specifically blocked by anti-GP Ib mAb. It is concluded that agglucetin, acts specifically
on an epitope of platelet membrane GP Ib overlapping with that of AP1, causing platelet
agglutination in a Ca+2- and GP IIb/IIIa-independent manner.
Keywords
C-type lectin-like venom proteins -
Agkistrodon acutus
- platelet agglutination - von Willebrand factor - glycoprotein Ib agonist