Interaction of heparin and antithrombin III. The role of O-sulfate groups.

A synthetic pentasaccharide corresponding to the sequence involved in heparin for binding and activation of antithrombin III contains eight sulfate groups. The role of some of them in the interaction with the protein has been demonstrated through the study of fragments obtained from heparin. An approach based on the total chemical synthesis of heparin fragments allows us to provide new information on the O-sulfate groups borne by the iduronic acid and the glucosamine units that constitute the reducing-end disaccharide of the above pentasaccharide sequence. Although not strictly necessary for a weak interaction to take place, these two sulfates co-operate to express maximal activity. This suggests that they belong to a secondary sub-region of interaction with antithrombin III, the primary one being accounted for by other critical parts of the structure and particularly the trisaccharide sequence placed at the non-reducing end of the pentasaccharide.