Acquired protein C deficiency in a patient with primary antiphospholipid syndrome. Relationship to reactivity of anticardiolipin antibody with thrombomodulin.

A 16-year-old boy had recurrent venous thromboses and pulmonary thromboembolism that caused him pulmonary hypertension. He also had livedo reticularis, thrombocytopenia and high titer IgG antiphospholipid (cardiolipin) antibodies. In the absence of clinical and laboratory evidence of SLE, he was considered to have a primary antiphospholipid syndrome. Coagulation studies revealed a functional deficiency of protein C although it was present in normal antigenic amounts. Since both his parents had normal functional and antigenic protein C findings, his deficiency was considered acquired. The reactivity of the anticardiolipin antibodies could be decreased in a dose dependent fashion when preincubated with increasing amounts of thrombomodulin, a protein required for protein C activation at the endothelial cell membrane. This interaction of antiphospholipid antibodies with thrombomodulin may help explain the occurrence of thrombosis in some patients with antiphospholipid antibodies, despite the behavior in vitro of these antibodies as circulating anticoagulants.