Heparin modifies the immunogenicity of positively charged proteins.

ABSTRACT: The immune response in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is initiated by and directed to large multimolecular complexes of platelet factor 4 (PF4) and heparin (H). We have previously shown that PF4:H multimolecular complexes assemble through electrostatic interactions and, once formed, are highly immunogenic in vivo. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that other positively charged proteins would exhibit similar biologic interactions with H. To test this hypothesis, we selected 2 unrelated positively charged proteins, protamine (PRT) and lysozyme, and studied H-dependent interactions using in vitro and in vivo techniques. Our studies indicate that PRT/H and lysozyme/H, like PF4/H, show H-dependent binding over a range of H concentrations and that formation of complexes occurs at di

SUBMITTER: Chudasama SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3031390 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature