Summary
Von Willebrand disease (vWD) of type IIB is a hereditary haemorragic disorder characterised
by an excessive interaction of von Willebrand factor (vWF) with the platelet receptor
GPIb which promotes platelet activation and aggregation through a phospholipase A2-mediated release of arachidonic acid.
The present report shows that prostacyclin and nitroprusside, vaso-dilator-compounds
that enhance the cAMP and cGMP concentration respectively, cause a drastic inhibition
of the type IIB vWF-induced platelet responses including increase of cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, phosphorylation of pleckstrin (47 kDa) and myosin light chain (20
kDa), secretion of ATP and serotonin, and aggregation parallel to a decrease of arachidonic
acid release. Type IIB vWF also elicits tyrosine phosphorylation of proteins with
apparent molecular mass of 60,74,82 and 130 kDa. Prostacyclin, which induces per se
tyrosine-phosphoryla-tion of proteins of about 38 and 45 kDa, inhibits drastically
the type IIB vWF-promoted tyrosine-phosphorylation of the 74 kDa protein while inhibits
slightly that of 60 kDa band. The protein tyrosine-kinase inhibitor genistein causes
a little decrease in the type IIB vWF-induced release of arachidonic acid.
It is concluded that the inhibition exerted by prostacyclin and nitroprusside on type
IIB vWF-elicited platelet activation seems to be largely ascribable to prevention
of the phospholipase A2 activation with the ensuing decrease of the subsequent protein tyrosine phosphorylation