Interdomain engineered disulfide bond permitting elucidation of mechanisms of inactivation of coagulation factor Va by activated protein C.

Procoagulant factor Va (FVa) is inactivated via limited proteolysis at three Arg residues in the A2 domain by the anticoagulant serine protease, activated protein C (APC). Cleavage by APC at Arg306 in FVa causes dissociation of the A2 domain from the heterotrimeric A1:A2:A3 structure and complete loss of procoagulant activity. To help distinguish inactivation mechanisms involving A2 domain dissociation from inactivation mechanisms involving unfavorable changes in factor Xa (FXa) affinity, we used our FVa homology model to engineer recombinant FVa mutants containing an interdomain disulfide bond (Cys609-Cys1691) between the A2 and A3 domains (A2-SS-A3 mutants) in addition to cleavage site mutations, Arg506Gln and Arg679Gln. SDS-PAGE analysis showed that the disulfide bond in A2-SS-A3 mutants prevented dissociation of the A2 domain. In the absence of A2 domain dissociation from the A1:A2:A3 trimer, APC cleavage at Arg306 alone caused a sevenfold decrease in affinity for FXa, whereas APC cleavages at Arg306, Arg506, and Arg679 caused a 70-fold decrease in affinity for FXa and a 10-fold decrease in the k(cat) of the prothrombinase complex for prothrombin without any effect on the apparent K(m) for prothrombin. Therefore, for FVa inactivation by APC, dissociation of the A2 domain may provide only a modest final step, whereas the critical events are the cleavages at Arg506 and Arg306, which effectively inactivate FVa before A2 dissociation can take place. Nonetheless, for FVa Leiden (Gln506-FVa) inactivation by APC, A2 domain dissociation may become mechanistically important, depending on the ambient FXa concentration.