Biomimetic design of platelet adhesion inhibitors to block integrin α2β1-collagen interactions: II. Inhibitor library, screening, and experimental validation.

Platelet adhesion on collagen mediated by integrin α2β1 has been proven important in arterial thrombus formation, leading to an exigent demand on development of potent inhibitors for the integrin α2β1-collagen binding. In the present study, a biomimetic design strategy of platelet adhesion inhibitors was established, based on the affinity binding model of integrin proposed in part I. First, a heptapeptide library containing 8000 candidates was designed to functionally mimic the binding motif of integrin α2β1. Then, each heptapeptide in the library was docked onto a collagen molecule for the assessment of its affinity, followed by a screening based on its structure similarity to the original structure in the affinity binding model. Eight candidates were then selected for further screening by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Thereafter, three candidates chosen from MD simulations were separately added into the physiological saline containing separated integrin and collagen, to check their abilities for blocking the integrin-collagen interaction using MD simulations. Of these three candidates, significant inhibition was observed in the presence of LWWNSYY. Finally, the binding affinity of LWWNSYY for collagen was demonstrated by isothermal titration calorimetry. Moreover, significant inhibition of platelet adhesion in the presence of LWWNSYY has been experimentally validated. This work has thus developed an effective strategy for the biomimetic design of peptide-based platelet adhesion inhibitors.