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Thromb Haemost 2000; 83(01): 107-113
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1613765
Commentary
Schattauer GmbH

A Reliable and Reproducible ELISA Method to Measure Ristocetin Cofactor Activity of von Willebrand Factor

Karen Vanhoorelbeke   *
,
Nancy Cauwenberghs   *
,
Stephan Vauterin
,
Agota Schlammadinger
,
Claudine Mazurier
1   Laboratoire français du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies, Lille, France
,
Hans Deckmyn
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 07 July 1999

Accepted 24 August 1999

Publication Date:
06 December 2017 (online)

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Summary

The ristocetin induced binding of vWF to GPIb, which is routinely tested in a platelet agglutination assay, can be reproducibly studied in an ELISA where plasma vWF binds to a captured rGPIbα-fragment (His1-Val289) in the presence of ristocetin. This binding is specific since the vWF-GPIb interaction could (i) be blocked by inhibitory antiGPIb or anti-(vWF A1 domain) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and (ii) be enhanced by an anti-vWF mAb that also facilitates ristocetin induced platelet agglutination. Further studies were undertaken to determine whether the test could be used to differentiate vWF from patients with different types of von Willebrand’s disease. The median vWF:RiCof activity in controls (n = 24) was 0.75 U/ml, in type 1 vWD patients (n = 17) 0.28 U/ml, in type 2A (n = 18) 0.055 U/ml, in type 2B (n = 4) 0.094 U/ml and in type 3 (n = 3) <0.0005 U/ml. Moreover, the values correlated well with those obtained from the vWF:RiCof-agglutination assay (r = 0.873). The vWF:RiCof-ELISA has several advantages: the use of a recombinant fragment instead of donor platelets results in a more reproducible test with a low inter-and intra-assay variability (<14% CV), the test can further be readily automated and for a single determination, only minimal amounts of patient plasma are required (8 µl).

Keywords

Recombinant GpIbα fragment - vWF:RiCof - von Willebrand’s disease - diagnosis

* These authors contributed equally to this work


 

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