Summary
We have previously identified and characterized a potent and specific thrombin inhibitor,
isolated from Bothrops jararaca, named bothrojaracin. Bothrojaracin interacts with the two positively charged recognition
sites of thrombin referred to as exosite 1 and exosite 2, whereas it does not interact
with the thrombin active site. Consequently, bothrojaracin inhibits thrombin-induced
fibrinogen to fibrin conversion and platelet activation, without inhibition of thrombin-catalyzed
cleavage of small synthetic substrates. In the present study, we show that bothrojaracin
exerts an anticoagulant effect in plasma, illustrated by the prolongation of the aPTT.
Using purified proteins, we observed that the anticoagulant effect of bothrojaracin
was not only due to the inhibition of fibrinogen to fibrin conversion, but in addition
to the inhibition of factor V activation by thrombin. Bothrojaracin decreased the
rate of thrombin-catalyzed proteolysis of factor V and concurrently the generation
of factor Va cofactor activity measured in a prothrombinase assay. We compared the
effect of bothrojaracin with that of ligands binding specifically exosite 1 (hirudin
C-terminal peptide SH54-65) or exosite 2 (heparin, prothrombin fragment 2). SH54-65
delayed thrombin catalyzed factor V activation whereas heparin or prothrombin fragment
2 did not. The thrombin derivatives β- and γ-thrombin, which are defective in their
exosite 1, but present with a normally exposed exosite 2, had a reduced capacity to
activate factor V, which was not further impaired by the exosite 2 ligands, bothrojaracin,
heparin or prothrombin fragment 2. Altogether, our results provide further insight
into the anticoagulant effect of bothrojaracin showing that it is a potent inhibitor
of the feedback activation of factor V by thrombin, and thus of the up-regulation
of its own production by thrombin. Inhibition of thrombin-catalyzed factor V activation
by bothrojaracin is mainly mediated through the interaction of the inhibitor with
thrombin exosite 1, whereas contribution of the interaction with exosite 2 does not
appear to play a direct role in factor V recognition by thrombin.