Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1983 Aug 1;97(2):571–573. doi: 10.1083/jcb.97.2.571

Binding of fibronectin to alpha-granule-deficient platelets

PMCID: PMC2112534  PMID: 6309863

Abstract

Most of the proposed functions for fibronectin involve its interaction with cells, yet the molecular nature of cellular fibronectin binding site(s) has remained obscure. Thrombin induces saturable platelet binding sites for plasma fibronectin and concurrently stimulates surface expression of a number of platelet alpha-granule constituents including thrombospondin and fibrin which are known to interact with fibronectin. To test the hypothesis that these (or other alpha-granule proteins) mediate plasma fibronectin binding, we used platelets of patients with the Gray Platelet Syndrome. These cells were deficient in thrombospondin, beta-thromboglobulin, platelet factor 4, fibronectin, and fibrinogen as measured in radioimmunoassay. They also had reduced von Willebrand factor content as judged by immunofluorescence. At plasma fibronectin inputs from 0.03 to 3 times the apparent kilodalton, these Gray platelets bound virtually identical quantities of fibronectin as normal cells. Thus, platelets containing 1,500 molecules of thrombospondin per platelet could bind more than 100,000 molecules of plasma fibronectin per cell following thrombin stimulation. These data preclude any simple model in which newly surface expressed thrombospondin (or other alpha-granule protein) functions as the major thrombin-stimulated plasma fibronectin receptor in this cell type.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (492.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. George J. N., Lyons R. M., Morgan R. K. Membrane changes associated with platelet activation. Exposure of actin on the platelet surface after thrombin-induced secretion. J Clin Invest. 1980 Jul;66(1):1–9. doi: 10.1172/JCI109821. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. George J. N., Onofre A. R. Human platelet surface binding of endogenous secreted factor VIII-von Willebrand factor and platelet factor 4. Blood. 1982 Jan;59(1):194–197. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gerrard J. M., Phillips D. R., Rao G. H., Plow E. F., Walz D. A., Ross R., Harker L. A., White J. G. Biochemical studies of two patients with the gray platelet syndrome. Selective deficiency of platelet alpha granules. J Clin Invest. 1980 Jul;66(1):102–109. doi: 10.1172/JCI109823. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ginsberg M. H., Hoskins R., Sigrist P., Painter R. G. Purification of a heparin-neutralizing protein from rabbit platelets and its homology with human platelet Factor 4. J Biol Chem. 1979 Dec 25;254(24):12365–12371. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ginsberg M. H., Taylor L., Painter R. G. The mechanism of thrombin-induced platelet factor 4 secretion. Blood. 1980 Apr;55(4):661–668. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Grinnell F. Fibroblast receptor for cell-substratum adhesion: studies on the interaction of baby hamster kidney cells with latex beads coated by cold insoluble globulin (plasma fibronectin). J Cell Biol. 1980 Jul;86(1):104–112. doi: 10.1083/jcb.86.1.104. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hynes R. O., Yamada K. M. Fibronectins: multifunctional modular glycoproteins. J Cell Biol. 1982 Nov;95(2 Pt 1):369–377. doi: 10.1083/jcb.95.2.369. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kleinman H. K., Martin G. R., Fishman P. H. Ganglioside inhibition of fibronectin-mediated cell adhesion to collagen. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jul;76(7):3367–3371. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.7.3367. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lahav J., Schwartz M. A., Hynes R. O. Analysis of platelet adhesion with a radioactive chemical crosslinking reagent: interaction of thrombospondin with fibronectin and collagen. Cell. 1982 Nov;31(1):253–262. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90425-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lawler J. W., Slayter H. S., Coligan J. E. Isolation and characterization of a high molecular weight glycoprotein from human blood platelets. J Biol Chem. 1978 Dec 10;253(23):8609–8616. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Leung L. L., Nachman R. L. Complex formation of platelet thrombospondin with fibrinogen. J Clin Invest. 1982 Sep;70(3):542–549. doi: 10.1172/JCI110646. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McPherson J., Sage H., Bornstein P. Isolation and characterization of a glycoprotein secreted by aortic endothelial cells in culture. Apparent identity with platelet thrombospondin. J Biol Chem. 1981 Nov 10;256(21):11330–11336. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Mosher D. F., Doyle M. J., Jaffe E. A. Synthesis and secretion of thrombospondin by cultured human endothelial cells. J Cell Biol. 1982 May;93(2):343–348. doi: 10.1083/jcb.93.2.343. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Mosher D. F. Fibronectin. Prog Hemost Thromb. 1980;5:111–151. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Nurden A. T., Kunicki T. J., Dupuis D., Soria C., Caen J. P. Specific protein and glycoprotein deficiencies in platelets isolated from two patients with the gray platelet syndrome. Blood. 1982 Apr;59(4):709–718. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Phillips D. R., Jennings L. K., Prasanna H. R. Ca2+-mediated association of glycoprotein G (thrombinsensitive protein, thrombospondin) with human platelets. J Biol Chem. 1980 Dec 25;255(24):11629–11632. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Plow E. F., Birdwell C., Ginsberg M. H. Identification and quantitation of platelet-associated fibronectin antigen. J Clin Invest. 1979 Mar;63(3):540–543. doi: 10.1172/JCI109334. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Plow E. F., Edgington T. S. Unique immunochemical features and intracellular stability of platelet fibrinogen. Thromb Res. 1975 Nov;7(5):729–742. doi: 10.1016/0049-3848(75)90198-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Plow E. F., Ginsberg M. H. Specific and saturable binding of plasma fibronectin to thrombin-stimulated human platelets. J Biol Chem. 1981 Sep 25;256(18):9477–9482. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Raugi G. J., Mumby S. M., Abbott-Brown D., Bornstein P. Thrombospondin: synthesis and secretion by cells in culture. J Cell Biol. 1982 Oct;95(1):351–354. doi: 10.1083/jcb.95.1.351. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Ruoslahti E., Vaheri A. Interaction of soluble fibroblast surface antigen with fribrinogen and fibrin. J Exp Med. 1975 Feb 1;141(2):497–501. doi: 10.1084/jem.141.2.497. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Saglio S. D., Slayter H. S. Use of a radioimmunoassay to quantify thrombospondin. Blood. 1982 Jan;59(1):162–166. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES