Mechanisms of Plasmin-Catalyzed Inactivation of the Factor VIII.

Factor VIII (FVIII) functions as a cofactor for factor IXa in the intrinsic tenase complex. This tenase activity is down-regulated by activated protein C (APC) or factor Xa (FXa). Plasmin, the most potent fibrinolytic protease, inactivates FVIII as well as other clotting factors. However, the mechanism of FVIII inactivation by plasmin is poorly understood. FVIII activity reached to the peak value of ~2-fold increase at 3 min after the addition of plasmin in a one-stage clotting assay. Then, the activity was decreased rapidly and was undetectable within 30 min. This time-dependent reaction was not affected in the presence of von Willebrand factor and phospholipid. The activation of FVIII by plasmin was an ~50% level of that by FXa. The rate constant (min-1) of inactivation of FVIIIa by plasmin possessed ~11.3- and ~2.5-folds greater than those by FXa and APC in the presence of protein S, respectively. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that plasmin cleaved the 90~210-kDa heavy chain of FVIII to 50, 48,45, 40, and 38-kDa fragments via 90-kDa fragment. Using western blot and N-terminal sequence analyses, these fragments derived from the heavy chain were identified as A11-372, A1337-372-A2, A11-336, A2, and A137-336, respectively, by cleavages at Arg372, Arg740, Lys36 and Arg336 in the A1 domain. On the other hand, the 80-kDa light chain was cleaved to 67-kDa fragment via 70-kDa fragment by cleavages at Arg1721 and Arg1689, respectively, consistent with the pattern of cleavage by FXa. However, the cleavage at Arg336 by plasmin was much quicker than that at Arg372, contrast with that by FXa. Furthermore, this cleavage was faster than that by APC, consistent with rapid inactivation of FVIII. In addition, the cleavage at Arg336 of FVIIIa by plasmin was faster than that of isolated A1 or A1/A3-C1–C2 dimer, different with that by FXa. These results demonstrate the importance of cleavage at Arg336 for the mechanism of plasmin-catalyzed FVIII inactivation. Furthermore, this cleavage appears to be selectively modulated by the A2 domain that may interact with plasmin.