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BRIEF REPORT
From the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical
Pharmacology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf,
Germany.
The exposure of internal glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptors has
been proposed to explain the incomplete inhibition of aggregation of
thrombin receptor-activating peptide (TRAP)-stimulated platelets by
abciximab. However, a marked and rapid externalization of GPIIb/IIIa was also observed upon stimulation with 30 µM adenosine diphosphate (ADP). ADP-induced fibrinogen binding was completely inhibited by 10 µg/mL abciximab, 30 nM tirofiban, or 3 µg/mL eptifibatide, while
fibrinogen binding induced by 100 µM TRAP was inhibited only by 50%.
Interestingly, striking differences in fibrinogen binding kinetics in
ADP- versus TRAP-stimulated platelets were observed. ADP-induced
fibrinogen binding was much slower than that of abciximab. These
differences in the fibrinogen binding rate were due to differential
GPIIb/IIIa activation kinetics because the actual fibrinogen binding
rate (measured by adding fibrinogen after platelet activation) was
similar in ADP- and TRAP-stimulated platelets. Thus, the TRAP-induced
GPIIb/IIIa activation rate would allow significant amounts of
fibrinogen to occupy externalized GPIIb/IIIa receptors even in the
presence of the inhibitor.
(Blood. 2001;98:1619-1621) Abciximab inhibits fibrinogen binding to
activated glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptors.1 At
standard therapy regimens, a largely complete ( Preparation of platelets
GPIIb/IIIa receptor expression
Fibrinogen binding Fibrinogen binding was measured in 30 × 109/L washed platelets using Oregon Green-labeled fibrinogen (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR). In preliminary studies, binding specificity was verified by competition experiments with unlabeled fibrinogen (Sigma). For the measurement of fibrinogen binding, Oregon Green-labeled fibrinogen (final concentration 0.5 mg/mL) mixed with unlabeled fibrinogen (final concentration 3 mg/mL) to achieve physiologic fibrinogen concentrations was added prior to platelet stimulation. The reaction was stopped at different time points by dilution (1:200) with Isotone. Fibrinogen binding was immediately quantified by flow cytometry. To measure the actual fibrinogen binding rate (independently of GPIIb/IIIa externalization/activation kinetics), platelets were first stimulated for 15 minutes followed by addition of Oregon Green-labeled fibrinogen and flow cytometry.Abciximab binding Abciximab was biotinylated using the FluoReporter Mini-Biotin-XX Protein Labeling Kit (Molecular Probes) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Functional activity of biotinylated abciximab was verified by inhibition of anti-CD41 binding. Biotinylated abciximab inhibited anti-CD41 binding with the same potency as did native abciximab (data not shown). For the measurement of abciximab binding rate, 150 × 109/L (150 000/µL) washed platelets were incubated with 3 µg/mL biotinylated abciximab. At different time points, the reaction was stopped by dilution (1:200) with Isotone. Immediately after dilution, platelets were incubated with saturating concentrations of streptavidin-phycoerythrin for 10 minutes, and abciximab binding was measured by flow cytometry.
ADP-induced fibrinogen binding was concentration-dependently
inhibited by abciximab. A complete inhibition was seen with 10 µg/mL
abciximab (Figure 1A). In contrast, at
the same abciximab concentration, only a partial (about 50%)
inhibition was seen when TRAP was used to stimulate fibrinogen binding
(Figure 1A). Only a partial (about 50%) inhibition of TRAP-induced
fibrinogen binding was also observed with 30 nM tirofiban or 3 µg/mL
eptifibatide (data not shown).
Interestingly, both TRAP and ADP significantly stimulated the externalization of CD62P (Figure 1B). Consistently, externalization of GPIIb/IIIa receptors was also observed with both agonists (Figure 1C). Although the relative velocity of ADP-induced GPIIb/IIIa externalization appears to be somewhat slower than with TRAP, this difference was not statistically significant (Figure 1D). To verify that the observed increases in CD41 fluorescence intensity were due to GPIIb/IIIa externalization, additional experiments were carried out with platelets pretreated with 10 µg/mL abciximab. In these platelets, all surface GPIIb/IIIa receptors were blocked by abciximab because, after washing, anti-CD41 binding was completeley inhibited (Figure 1C). When these platelets were stimulated with ADP or TRAP, anti-CD41 binding increased in a time-dependent manner, indicating externalization of unblocked GPIIb/IIIa receptors (Figure 1C). These data suggest that GPIIb/IIIa externalization per se cannot
explain the differential inhibition of fibrinogen binding by GPIIb/IIIa
antagonists in ADP- versus TRAP-stimulated platelets. In the study of
Gawaz et al,4 only an incomplete inhibition of
TRAP-induced platelet aggregation was seen even immediately after an
abciximab bolus. At this time, abciximab concentrations of about 1 to 3 µg/mL are usually achieved.2 At these concentrations, abciximab almost completely blocks GPIIb/IIIa receptors. For example, at 3 µg/mL abciximab, anti-CD41 binding was reduced by 88% ± 3% (at 1000 × 109/L platelets), by 97% ±1% (at
300 × 109/L platelets), and by 99% ± 1% (at
100 × 109/L platelets). Thus, at therapeutic plasma
concentrations, abciximab should be able to block externalized
GPIIb/IIIa receptors even at supraphysiologic platelet counts. However,
because GPIIb/IIIa externalization is a very rapid process, the
kinetics of abciximab versus fibrinogen binding should determine the
inhibition of externalized GPIIb/IIIa receptors. We have therefore
measured fibrinogen binding kinetics upon stimulation with ADP and
TRAP, respectively. First, the fibrinogen binding rate was determined
after addition of fluorescent fibrinogen to platelets stimulated for 15 minutes in the absence of fibrinogen (Figure
2A). In these experiments, no
agonist-dependent differences in fibrinogen binding kinetics were
observed. In a second series of experiments, the fibrinogen binding
rate was measured in platelets stimulated in the presence of
fibrinogen, mimicking the physiologic way of fibrinogen binding. In
these experiments, striking differences were observed depending on the agonist used. The TRAP-induced fibrinogen binding rate was much higher
as compared with ADP (Figure 2B). At 10 minutes, however, the same
degree of fibrinogen binding was achieved with both stimuli.
Thus, the initial binding rate of abciximab should critically determine its inhibitory effects on fibrinogen binding. The measurement of abciximab binding revealed a binding rate that was significantly higher than the ADP-induced fibrinogen binding rate (Figure 2B). Thus, upon stimulation with ADP, abciximab should be able to block externalized GPIIb/IIIa receptors before fibrinogen would bind. In contrast, the TRAP-induced fibrinogen binding rate was comparable to the binding rate of abciximab and would allow significant amounts of fibrinogen to occupy externalized GPIIb/IIIa receptors prior to their blockade by abciximab. Taken together, although rapid GPIIb/IIIa externalization does occur with both weak and strong platelet stimuli, differences in GPIIb/IIIa activation kinetics, resulting in a differential fibrinogen binding rate, may provide an additional explanation for the differential inhibition of ADP- versus TRAP-stimulted fibrinogen binding by GPIIb/IIIa inhibitors.
The authors thank Thomas Hohlfeld for helpful suggestions, Kerstin Freidel for excellent technical assistance, and Erika Lohmann for competent secretarial help.
Submitted December 20, 2000; accepted April 30, 2001.
The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, and solely to indicate this fact, this article is hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. section 1734.
Reprints: Karsten Schrör, Institut für Pharmakologie und Klinische Pharmakologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; e-mail: kschroer{at}uni-duesseldorf.de.
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3.
Bihour C, Durrieu-Jais C, Macchi L, et al.
Expression markers of platelet activation and the interpatient variation in response to abciximab.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol.
1999;19:212-219 4. Gawaz M, Ruf A, Pogatsa-Murray G, et al. Incomplete inhibition of platelet aggregation and glycoprotein IIb-IIIa receptor blockade by abciximab: importance of internal pool of glycoprotein IIb-IIIa receptors. Thromb Haemost. 2000;83:915-923[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve].
5.
Nurden P, Poujol C, Durrieu-Jais C, et al.
Labeling of the internal pool of GPIIb-IIIa in platelets by c7E3 fragments: flow and endocytic mechanisms contribute to the transport.
Blood.
1999;93:1622-1633
6.
Ault KA, Cannon CP, Mitchell J, et al.
Platelet activation in patients after an acute coronary syndrome: results from the TIMI-12 trial.
J Am Coll Cardiol.
1999;33:634-639
© 2001 by The American Society of Hematology.
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