Identification of the Multimerin Binding Region within the C2 Domain of Human Factor V Using Constructs Generated by Alanine-Scanning and Site-Directed Mutagenesis.

Activated coagulation factor V is a key non-enzymatic cofactor that is an essential component of the prothrombinase complex. In blood, much of the procoagulant factor V is stored in platelets, as a complex with the α-granule protein multimerin, for activation-induced release during clot formation. Presently, the molecular nature of multimerin - factor V binding has not been determined, although multimerin is known to interact with the light chain of factor V and Va. Using modified enzyme-linked immunoassays and recombinant factor V constructs, we previously found that discontinuous regions in the C2 domain of factor V were important for binding multimerin, and that these regions overlapped with areas in factor V important for its procoagulant function. Specifically, four (S2183T, W2063A/W2064A, K2060Q/K2061Q, K2060Q/K2061Q/W2063A/ W2064A) full-length, site-directed C2 mutants, and 12 (W2063A, W2064A (W2063, W2064)A, R2074A (R2072, R2074)A (K2101, K2103, K2104)A, L2116A (K2157, H2159, K2161)A, R2171A, R2174A, E2189A (R2187, E2189)A) B domain deleted, charge to alanine constructs had significantly reduced multimerin binding (p< 0.01), relative to the corresponding wild-type. In the present study, we evaluated multimerin-factor V binding with a new assay that used affinity purified, recombinant multimerin immobilized onto microtitre wells to test the binding of recombinant factor V constructs. Because results from the new binding assays were in agreement on the regions of the C2 domain important for multimerin binding, the new assay was used to examine the effect of thrombin on factor V-multimerin binding. Thrombin exposure led to significant dissociation of preformed multimerin-factor V complexes (p<0.01). In addition, thrombin cleaved factor Va had significantly reduced multimerin-binding in assays using antibodies against the factor Va heavy chain and light chain (p<0.01). Recently, our lab identified that platelets contain forms of factor V covalently linked to multimerin via cysteine 1085 in the factor V B-domain. After recombinant factor V was activated by thrombin, there was no detectable binding of the liberated B-domain to multimerin (p<0.001). Nonetheless, the B domain of factor V appeared to enhance factor V binding to multimerin, as factor V constructs synthesized without the B-domain had reduced multimerin binding even after conversion to factor Va, compared to wild-type factor V. Based on the overlap between multimerin-binding and procoagulant, PS binding regions in the C2 domain of factor V, we assessed the effect of multimerin on factor V procoagulant activity in one stage and two stage prothrombinase assays. However, multimerin did not neutralize factor V procoagulant activity when tested in molar excess. Our study indicates that multimerin binding of factor V is modulated by conformational changes in factor V upon activation, and that the factor V B-domain may function to enhance binding to multimerin. The dissociation of multimerin-factor V complexes by thrombin suggests multimerin might be important for delivering and localizing factor V onto platelets, prior to prothrombinase assembly.