Thromb Haemost 2010; 104(04): 796-803
DOI: 10.1160/TH10-01-0043
Platelets and blood cells
Schattauer GmbH

Selective activation of the prostaglandin E2 receptor subtype EP2 or EP4 leads to inhibition of platelet aggregation

Shuhko Kuriyama*
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
2   Department of Ophthalmology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Hitoshi Kashiwagi*
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Koh-ichi Yuhki
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Fumiaki Kojima
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Takehiro Yamada
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Takayuki Fujino
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Akiyoshi Hara
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Koji Takayama
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Takayuki Maruyama
3   Minase Research Institute, Ono Pharmaceutical Company, Osaka, Japan
,
Akitoshi Yoshida
2   Department of Ophthalmology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
,
Shuh Narumiya
4   Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
,
Fumitaka Ushikubi
1   Department of Pharmacology, Asahikawa Medical College, Asahikawa, Japan
› Author Affiliations

Financial support:This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan. This work was also supported by grants from the Takeda Science Foundation, Ono Pharmaceutical Co. and the Smoking Research Foundation.
Further Information

Publication History

Received: 15 January 2010

Accepted after major revision: 03 June 2010

Publication Date:
24 November 2017 (online)

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Summary

The effect of selective activation of platelet prostaglandin (PG) E2 receptor subtype EP2 or EP4 on platelet aggregation remains to be determined. In platelets prepared from wild-type mice (WT platelets), high concentrations of PGE2 inhibited platelet aggregation induced by U-46619, a thromboxane receptor agonist. However, there was no significant change in the inhibitory effect of PGE2 on platelets lacking EP2 (EP2 –/– platelets) and EP4 (EP4 –/– platelets) compared with the inhibitory effect on WT platelets. On the other hand, AE1–259 and AE1–329, agonists for EP2 and EP4, respectively, potently inhibited U-46619 -induced aggregation with respective IC50 values of 590 ± 14 and 100 ± 4.9 nM in WT platelets, while the inhibition was significantly blunted in EP2 –/– and EP4 –/– platelets. In human platelets, AE1–259 and AE1–329 inhibited U-46619-induced aggregation with respective IC50 values of 640 ± 16 and 2.3 ± 0.3 nM. Notably, the inhibitory potency of AE1–329 in human platelets was much higher than that in murine platelets, while such a difference was not observed in the inhibitory potency of AE1–259. AE1–329 also inhibited adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation, and the inhibition was almost completely blocked by AE3–208, an EP4 antagonist. In addition, AE1–329 increased intracellular cAMP concentrations in a concentration- and EP4-dependent manner in human platelets. These results indicate that selective activation of EP2 or EP4 can inhibit platelet aggregation and that EP4 agonists are particularly promising as novel anti-platelet agents.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.