Formation of the fibrin clot: the balance of procoagulant and inhibitory factors.

Let us now briefly summarize some major known regulating mechanisms, most of which have already been discussed. A general regulating feature of the coagulation system is provided by the cofactors HMW-kininogen, tissue factor, factor V(a), factor VIII:C(a), protein S and thrombomodulin. Tissue factor and thrombomodulin, as cell membrane constituents, and the other cofactors, thanks to their affinity for certain surface sites, localize coagulation reactions and thus avoid generalized intravascular thrombosis when the clotting system is triggered. Thrombin activates factors V and VIII:C and activated protein C inactivates factors Va and VIII:Ca. Thrombin is regulated by AT III, alpha 2M and possibly heparin-cofactor II, whereby endothelial-cell-bound heparin-like molecules enhance thrombin neutralization. Moreover, binding of thrombin to thrombomodulin abolishes its clotting activity, at least in the case of rabbit thrombomodulin. Thrombin is able to cleave PT-fragment 1 from prothrombin, thus generating prethrombin 1, which lacks the gla-region and does not bind to phospholipids. The hypothesis that thrombin may regulate its own formation by this negative feedback, however, must probably be discarded, because no corresponding fragments are found after blood clotting in vitro (Aronson et al, 1977). Factor Xa and factor IXa are inhibited by AT III and endogenous heparin probably enhances their inactivation. However, phospholipid-bound factor Xa in the presence of factor Va (Marciniak, 1973) and phospholipid-bound factor IXa (Varadi and Elödi, 1982) are relatively protected from inhibition. Platelet-bound factor Xa is completely protected from AT III, even in the presence of heparin (Miletich et al, 1978). Thus, specific cell surface sites modulate the inhibition of proteases in situ. Factor XIa is inhibited by several protease inhibitors, the most important being alpha 1-AT. beta-factor XIIa is inhibited mainly by C1-inhibitor and kallikrein by both C1-inhibitor and alpha 2M. No serine protease inhibitor for factor VIIa is as yet known. However, after initial rapid activation by factor Xa, factor VIIa is subsequently proteolytically inactivated by factor Xa, resulting in a transient burst of factor Xa generation by factor VIIa (Morrison and Jesty, 1984). This proteolytic regulation of factor VIIa by factor Xa dampens factor IX or factor X activation via tissue factor-factor VIIa by feedback proteolytic inhibition and this may constitute a major regulatory mechanism for factor VIIa.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)