Summary
Standard nomenclature for a number of secreted platelet proteins was agreed upon by
The Working Party on Secreted Platelet Proteins of the Subcommittee on Platelets.
Platelet factor 4 will continue to be used for the molecule with high heparin affinity,
subunit molecular weight of 7780, and the described amino acid sequence. β-Thromboglobulin
will be used to designate β-Thromboglobulin (81 amino acids/subunit, β-mobility on
cellulose-acetate electrophoresis, pI 7), low-affinity platelet factor 4 (85 amino
acids/subunit, y-mobility on cellulose-acetate electrophoresis, pI 8), and platelet
basic protein (94 amino acids/ subunit, pI 10) when these are measured immunologically
in plasma, but that thromboglobulin with a superscript designation of the pI should
be used when assays are conducted on samples after isoelectric focusing, and a subscript
amino-terminal amino acid can be added when a purified protein is described. Thrombospondin
will continue to be the designation for the high molecular weight trimer that has
previously been called thrombospondin or glycoprotein G. Platelet derived growth factor
will be used for the group of closely related proteins of molecular weight about 30,000
and isoelectric point about 10.
Keywords
Platelet factor 4 - β-Thromboglobulin - Low-affinity platelet factor 4 - Platelet
basic protein - Retroperitoneal bleeding - Thrombospondin - Platelet-derived growth
factor