Flavocetin-A and -B, two high molecular mass glycoprotein Ib binding proteins with high affinity purified from Trimeresurus flavoviridis venom, inhibit platelet aggregation at high shear stress.

Two high molecular mass proteins, flavocetin-A and flavocetin-B, were purified from Trimeresurus flavoviridis venom. On polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate, the apparent molecular mass of flavocetin-A and -B were 149 and 139 kDa, respectively, under nonreducing conditions. On reduction, flavocetin-A showed two distinct subunits (17 and 14 kDa), and flavocetin-B three distinct subunits (17, 15 and 14 kDa). At 1 microgram/ml, flavocetin-A and -B (flavocetins) inhibited the von Willebrand factor (vWF)-dependent aggregation of fixed human platelets. However, flavocetins (10 micrograms/ml) had no effect on ADP- and collagen-induced platelet aggregation in PRP. Flavocetins (3 micrograms/ml) also inhibited shear-induced platelet aggregation at high shear stress. Furthermore, flavocetin-A completely inhibited the aggregation of and ATP release from washed platelets stimulated with a low concentration of thrombin. Flavocetin-A specifically bound to platelet with high affinity (Kd = 0.35 +/- 0.13 nM) at 21,500 +/- 1760 binding sites per platelet. The N-terminal amino acid sequences of the subunits of flavocetin-A show a high degree of homology with those of echicetin, botrocetin, alboaggregin-B and factor IX/factor X-binding protein. These results suggest that flavocetins may be a useful tool for further investigation of the GPIb-vWF interaction.