Mechanism of Interaction between the Heavy Chain of Factor VIII and Thrombin.
Authors: Nogami Keiji , Zhou Qian , Wakabayashi Hironao , Myles Timothy , Leung Lawrence L. , Fay Philip J. 
Published: October 2019

Factor VIII is activated by proteolytic cleavages catalyzed by thrombin or factor Xa. An earlier study indicated that thrombin binding within the C2 domain facilitated cleavage at Arg1689 of factor VIII light chain (Nogami et al. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 25774–25780). However, thrombin-interactive region(s) within the heavy chain involved with cleaving the A1-A2 and A2-B domainal junctions remain to be determined. Several approaches were employed to examine the interactions between factor VIII heavy chain and thrombin. Fluorescence energy transfer using acrylodan-labeled A1 or A2 subunits (fluorescence donors) and a fluorescein-labeled, Phe-Pro-Arg-chloromethyl ketone active site-modified thrombin (Fl-FPR-thrombin; fluorescence acceptor) showed that FPR-thrombin bound to the A2 subunit with an ~6-fold higher affinity (Kd =36.6 nM) compared with the A1 subunit (Kd=234 nM). Solid phase binding assays using immobilized thrombin S205A, where the active-site Ser205 was converted to Ala by site directed mutagenesis, showed that the binding affinity of A2 subunit was ~3-fold greater than that of A1 subunit. Similar solid phase assays indicated that hirudin, a ligand for anion-binding exosite I of thrombin (ABE-I), effectively blocked thrombin interaction with A1 subunit while having little if any effect on its interaction with A2 subunit. Conversely, heparin, which binds ABE-II, blocked thrombin interaction with A2 subunit while showing only a marginal effect on A1 subunit binding. To identify an interactive site for thrombin in the A2 domain, we focused on two regions containing clustered acidic residues (389GluGluGluAspTrpAsp394 and 720GluAspSerTyrGluAsp725), which are localized near the N- and C-termini of the A2 domain, respectively. SDS-PAGE analyses using isolated factor VIII heavy chain as substrate showed peptides with the sequences 373–395 and 719–740 encompassing these acidic regions, blocked thrombin cleavage at both Arg372 (A1–A2 junction) and Arg740 (A2–B junction) while a 373–385 peptide did not block either cleavage. The 373–395 and 719–740 peptides competitively inhibited A2 binding to S205A thrombin in a solid phase assay (Ki=11.5 and 12.4 μM, respectively), and quenched the fluorescence of Fl-FPR-thrombin. These data demonstrate that both A2 terminal regions support interaction with thrombin. Furthermore, a B-domainless, factor VIII double mutant D392A/D394A was constructed and possessed specific activity equivalent to a severe hemophilia phenotype (<1% compared with wild type). This mutant was resistant to cleavage at Arg740 whereas cleavage at Arg372 was not appreciably affected. Thus the low specific activity of this mutant was attributed to small C-terminal extensions on the A2 subunit that were not removed following cleavage at Arg740. However, factor Xa cleavage of the mutant at Arg740 was not affected. These data suggest the acidic region comprising residues 389–394 in factor VIII A2 domain interacts with thrombin via ABE-II of the proteinase facilitating cleavage at Arg740.