Abstract
Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) is an amino acid sequence in fibrinogen recognized by platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa. Recently, it was found that RGD peptide binding to GPIIb/IIIa leads to conformational changes in the complex that are associated with the acquisition of high-affinity fibrinogen-binding function. In this study, we found that tetrafibricin, a novel non-peptidic GPIIb/IIIa antagonist, induced similar conformational changes in GPIIb/IIIa as did RGD peptides. Tetrafibricin increased the binding of purified inactive GPIIb/IIIa to immobilized pl-80, a monoclonal antibody that preferentially recognizes ligand-occupied GPIIb/IIIa. Exposure of the pl-80 epitope by tetrafibricin was also observed on resting human platelets by flow cytometry. On intact platelets, the conformational changes transformed GPIIb/IIIa into a high-affinity receptor for fibrinogen and triggered subsequent platelet aggregation. Tetrafibricin is the first non-peptidic GPIIb/IIIa antagonist reported that has the capacity to induce conformational changes in GPIIb/IIIa.