FIBRINOGEN SEQUENCES INTERACTING WITH PLATELET GPIIbIIIa

Fibrinogen (Fg), fibronectin (Fn) and von Willebrand factor (vWF), interact with GPIIbllla on AD? stimulated platelets, and a common mechanism has been postulated for the binding of these adhesive proteins. Fg, Fn and vWF contain the tripeptide Arg-Gly-Asp and synthetic analogues to this sequence inhibit their interaction with platelet and their concomitant adhesive reactions. On the other hand, sequences corresponding to the Fg γ chain inhibit the binding of Fg, Fn and vWF to platelet and may also represent a potential recognition site. This raises the possibility that the γ chain sequence and Arg-Gly-Asp interact with the same site or represent primary and secondary sites for the Fg molecule. Within this context, the capacity of these sequences to interact with GPIIbllla and to block fibrinogen binding were compared. The smallest γ chain sequence that was active in inhibiting this reaction was the hexamer Lys-Gln-Ala-Gly-Asp-Val corresponding to the last six amino acid residues at the C-terminus of the γ chain. In parallel, peptides with the structure Arg-Gly-Asp-X were synthesized and tested in vitro. The activity of these peptides was dependent upon the hydrophobicity of the amino acid residue at position X. Arg-GLy-Asp-Phe corresponding to the sequence at position 95-98 in the Fg Aα chain was 5 to 10 times more active than Arg-GLy-Asp-Ser, present at position 572-575 in the Aα chain, and was 10 to 20 times more active than the γ chain hexamer. Both the Aα chain and γ chain sequences however, inhibited Fg binding by greater than 90%. When the γ chain sequence and the Arg-Gly-Asp-X sequence were coupled to Sepharose, GPIIbIIIa interacted with these sequences and was eluted from each column by either of the peptides. Finally direct binding experiments indicated that Arg-Gly-Asp-X and γ chain sequences are competitive antagonists. These results suggest that both sequences interact with the same site on GPIIbIIIa and comparison of the hydrophilicity of these peptides suggests that the binding domain on GPIIbIIIa exhibits hydrophobic properties.