Summary
Soluble plasma tissue factor (TF) circulates in picomolar concentrations in healthy
individuals and increases in a wide spectrum of diseases. This study tests the hypothesis
that both truncatedTF (rsTF) or soluble plasmaTF (pTF) in low concentration combine
with monocytes or platelets to convert factorVII (fVII) to fVIIa. Both rsTF (33 kDa)
and pTF (47 kDa), obtained from pericardial wounds of patients having cardiac surgery
using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), were studied in association with blood cells and
TF-bearing microparticles. Tissue factor was measured by ELISA. RsTF binds to erythrocytes,
platelets, mononuclear cells and polymorphoneutrophils. The rate of fVII conversion
with rsTF (1–103 nM) is highest with mononuclear cells, less with platelets, minimal
with polymorphoneutrophils and undetectable with erythrocytes. Either stimulated or
unstimulated mononuclear cells or platelets in the presence of 3.5 pM rsTF or pTF
convert fVII (10 nM) to fVIIa, but the amounts of fVIIa produced differ. When leukocytes
or platelets are absent, microparticles associated with 3.5 pM TF antigen derived
from pericardial wound plasma do not activate fVII. Stimulated mononuclear cells convert
nearly all available fVII (10 nM) to fVIIa with 3.5 nM pTF; unstimulated mononuclear
cells convert small amounts of fVII with 1 pM rsTF. In all comparisons mononuclear
cells more efficiently convert fVII to fVIIa than do platelets. This study shows that
stimulated mononuclear cells provide the most efficient platform for activation of
rsTF or pTF at low concentrations of TF antigen.
Keywords
Soluble tissue factor - monocytes - platelets - thrombin