1.	What is known on this topic VWF plays a role in arterial platelet-plug formation as an anchor to the thrombogenic surface, as well as a bridging molecule between platelets in arterial thrombi only 50 % of fibrinogen is converted to fibrin for dissolution of a platelet-plug a mixture of VWF-fibrinogen/fibrin has to be cleaved both VWF and fibrin(ogen) are cleaved by plasmin in isolated systems, but kinetic data are available only for fibrin(ogen)
2.	What this paper adds VWF at its physiological concentration, protects fibrinogen, but not fibrin from its degradation by plasmin, miniplasmin, and microplasmin while acting as a non-competitive inhibitor of plasmin with a Ki of 5.4 μg/ml, VWF itself is not necessarily degraded the primary interaction between VWF and plasmin is mediated by the catalytic domain of plasmin, but not by its active site and is modulated by the kringle 5 domain the presence of VWF in platelet-rich thrombi may contribute to their thrombolytic resistance, and plasma VWF may help to preserve circulating fibrinogen in the course of thrombolysis