Structural highlights
Disease
[VWF_HUMAN] Defects in VWF are the cause of von Willebrand disease type 1 (VWD1) [MIM:193400]. A common hemorrhagic disorder due to defects in von Willebrand factor protein and resulting in impaired platelet aggregation. Von Willebrand disease type 1 is characterized by partial quantitative deficiency of circulating von Willebrand factor, that is otherwise structurally and functionally normal. Clinical manifestations are mucocutaneous bleeding, such as epistaxis and menorrhagia, and prolonged bleeding after surgery or trauma.[1] [2] Defects in VWF are the cause of von Willebrand disease type 2 (VWD2) [MIM:613554]. A hemorrhagic disorder due to defects in von Willebrand factor protein and resulting in impaired platelet aggregation. Von Willebrand disease type 2 is characterized by qualitative deficiency and functional anomalies of von Willebrand factor. It is divided in different subtypes including 2A, 2B, 2M and 2N (Normandy variant). The mutant VWF protein in types 2A, 2B and 2M are defective in their platelet-dependent function, whereas the mutant protein in type 2N is defective in its ability to bind factor VIII. Clinical manifestations are mucocutaneous bleeding, such as epistaxis and menorrhagia, and prolonged bleeding after surgery or trauma. Defects in VWF are the cause of von Willebrand disease type 3 (VWD3) [MIM:277480]. A severe hemorrhagic disorder due to a total or near total absence of von Willebrand factor in the plasma and cellular compartments, also leading to a profound deficiency of plasmatic factor VIII. Bleeding usually starts in infancy and can include epistaxis, recurrent mucocutaneous bleeding, excessive bleeding after minor trauma, and hemarthroses.
Function
[VWF_HUMAN] Important in the maintenance of hemostasis, it promotes adhesion of platelets to the sites of vascular injury by forming a molecular bridge between sub-endothelial collagen matrix and platelet-surface receptor complex GPIb-IX-V. Also acts as a chaperone for coagulation factor VIII, delivering it to the site of injury, stabilizing its heterodimeric structure and protecting it from premature clearance from plasma.
Evolutionary Conservation
Check, as determined by ConSurfDB. You may read the explanation of the method and the full data available from ConSurf.
Publication Abstract from PubMed
BACKGROUND: Bleeding from a damaged blood vessel is stopped by the formation of a platelet plug. The multimeric plasma glycoprotein, von Willebrand factor (vWF), plays an essential role in this process by anchoring blood platelets to the damaged vessel wall under conditions of high shear stress. This factor mediates platelet adhesion by binding both to collagen of the damaged blood vessel and to glycoprotein Ib on the platelet membrane. The A3 domain of vWF allows it to bind to collagen types I and III present in the perivascular connective tissue of the damaged vessel wall. To gain insight into the mechanism of collagen binding by vWF, we have determined the crystal structure of the human vWF A3 domain. RESULTS: The crystal structure of the 20 kDa A3 domain of human vWF (residues 920-1111), determined by the method of multiwavelength anomalous dispersion at 1.8 A resolution, exhibits a common dinucleotide-binding fold. The putative collagen-binding site of the A3 domain is rather smooth and shows a markedly high concentration of negatively charged residues. This region encompasses a potential metal-binding site containing the motif DXSXS, which is required for ligand interaction in the homologous I-type domains of integrins CR3 and LFA-1. Although vWF A3 has considerable sequence and structural similarity with CR3 and LFA-1 in this region, one loop of A3 adopts a conformation which is incompatible with ion binding. CONCLUSIONS: The structure of the A3 domain suggests that adhesion to collagen is primarily achieved through interactions between negatively charged residues on A3 and positively charged residues on collagen. The absence of a pronounced binding groove precludes a large van der Waals surface interaction between A3 and collagen and is consistent with the low affinity for collagen of a single A3 domain and the requirement for multimeric vWF for tight association with collagen. The absence of bound metal ions upon soaking the crystal in MgCl2 and vWF A3's conformational incompatibility for metal binding is consistent with the absence of a functional role for metal ion binding in A3, which contrasts the metal ion activation required for ligand binding by the homologous integrin I type domains.
Crystal structure of the A3 domain of human von Willebrand factor: implications for collagen binding.,Huizinga EG, Martijn van der Plas R, Kroon J, Sixma JJ, Gros P Structure. 1997 Sep 15;5(9):1147-56. PMID:9331419[3]
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
References
- ↑ Allen S, Abuzenadah AM, Hinks J, Blagg JL, Gursel T, Ingerslev J, Goodeve AC, Peake IR, Daly ME. A novel von Willebrand disease-causing mutation (Arg273Trp) in the von Willebrand factor propeptide that results in defective multimerization and secretion. Blood. 2000 Jul 15;96(2):560-8. PMID:10887119
- ↑ Bodo I, Katsumi A, Tuley EA, Eikenboom JC, Dong Z, Sadler JE. Type 1 von Willebrand disease mutation Cys1149Arg causes intracellular retention and degradation of heterodimers: a possible general mechanism for dominant mutations of oligomeric proteins. Blood. 2001 Nov 15;98(10):2973-9. PMID:11698279
- ↑ Huizinga EG, Martijn van der Plas R, Kroon J, Sixma JJ, Gros P. Crystal structure of the A3 domain of human von Willebrand factor: implications for collagen binding. Structure. 1997 Sep 15;5(9):1147-56. PMID:9331419
