@phdthesis{Hagedorn2011,
  author    = {Hagedorn, Ina},
  title     = {Novel mechanisms underlying arterial thrombus formation: in vivo studies in (genetically modified) mice},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-85752},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2011},
  abstract  = {Thrombus formation at sites of vascular lesions is a dynamic process that requires a defined series of molecular events including the action of platelet adhesion/activation receptors, intracellular signal transduction, cytoskeletal rearrangements and activation of plasma coagulation factors. This process is essential to limit post-traumatic blood loss but may also contribute to acute thrombotic diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke. With the help of genetically modified mice and the use of specific protein inhibitors and receptordepleting antibodies, the work presented in this thesis identified novel mechanisms underlying thrombus formation in hemostasis and thrombosis. In the first part of the study, it was shown that von Willebrand Factor (vWF) binding to glycoprotein (GP)Iba is critical for the formation of stable pathological thrombi at high shear rates, suggesting GPIba as an attractive pharmacological target for antithrombotic therapy. The subsequent analysis of recently generated phospholipase (PL)D1-deficient mice identified this enzyme, whose role in platelet function had been largely unknown, as a potential target protein downstream of GPIba. This was based on the finding that PLD1- deficient mice displayed severely defective GPIba-dependent thrombus stabilization under high shear conditions in vitro and in vivo without affecting normal hemostasis. The second part of the thesis characterizes the functional relevance of the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM)-bearing collagen receptor GPVI and the recently identified hemITAM-coupled C-type lectin-like receptor 2 (CLEC-2) for in vivo thrombus formation. Genetic- and antibody-induced GPVI deficiency was found to similarly protect mice from arterial vessel occlusion in three different thrombosis models. These results confirmed GPVI as a promising antithrombotic target and revealed that antibody-treatment had no obvious off-target effects on platelet function. Similarly, immunodepletion of CLEC-2 by treating mice with the specific antibody INU1 resulted in markedly impaired thrombus growth and stabilization under flow in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that double-immunodepletion of GPVI and CLEC-2 resulted in severely decreased arterial thrombus formation accompanied by dramatically prolonged bleeding times. These data revealed an unexpected redundant function of the two receptors for in vivo thrombus formation and might have important implications for the potential development of anti-GPVI and anti-CLEC-2 antithrombotic agents. The third part of the thesis provides the first functional analysis of megakaryocyte- and platelet-specific RhoA knockout mice. RhoA-deficient mice displayed a defined signaling defect in platelet activation, leading to a profound protection from arterial thrombosis andand ischemic brain infarction, but at the same time also strongly increased bleeding times. These findings identified the GTPase as an important player for thrombus formation in hemostasis and thrombosis. Based on the previous proposal that the coagulation factor (F)XII might represent an ideal target for safe antithrombotic therapy without causing bleeding side effects, the last part of this thesis assesses the antithrombotic potential of the newly generated FXIIa inhibitor rHAInfestin- 4. It was found that rHA-Infestin-4 injection into mice resulted in virtually abolished arterial thrombus formation but no change in bleeding times. Moreover, rHA-Infestin-4 was similarly efficient in a murine model of ischemic stroke, suggesting that the inhibitor might be a promising agent for effective and safe therapy of cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases.},
  subject      = {Thrombus},
  language  = {en}
}