125I-radiolabeled guinea pig fibrinogen was used to measure the influx (20 min) and accumulation (18 h) of fibrinogen/fibrin in three transplantable carcinomas (Lewis lung, TA3/St mammary, and MOT ovarian) growing in the subcutaneous space of syngeneic mice. Fibrinogen influx and, to an even greater extent, fibrin accumulation were substantially increased in all three tumors, as compared with n...

Fibrinogen degradation, fibrin polymerisation, and the insertion of cross links into fibrin by fibrin stabilising factor lead to the appearance of new antigenic determinants. Antibodies against these antigenic sites may react specifically with the derivatives but not with the parent molecules. We have utilised a monoclonal antibody, which interacts with the cross linked fragment D dimer and rel...

Fibrin plays an important role during wound healing and skin regeneration. It is often applied in clinical practice for treatment of skin injuries or as a component of skin substitutes. We prepared electrospun nanofibrous membranes made from poly(l-lactide) modified with a thin fibrin nanocoating. Fibrin surrounded the individual fibers in the membrane and also formed a thin fibrous mesh on sev...

Plasminogen (Pg) activators such as streptokinase (SK) save lives by generating plasmin to dissolve blood clots. Some believe that the unique ability of SK to activate Pg in the absence of fibrin limits its therapeutic utility. We have found that SK contains an unusual NH(2)-terminal "catalytic switch" that allows Pg activation through both fibrin-independent and fibrin-dependent mechanisms. Un...

The formation of a fibrin clot is one of the key events in atherothrombotic vascular disease. The structure of the fibrin clot and the genetic and environmental factors that modify it have effects on its biological function. Alterations in fibrin structure and function have implications for the clinical presentation of vascular disease. This review briefly describes the key features involved in...

We have discovered that addition of monomeric desAB fibrin to prothrombin leads to appearance of the thrombin-like activity of prothrombin towards S2238 chromogenic substrate. DesA and desABβ(15-42)2 fibrin forms did not cause any activation of prothrombin. From this observation we could suggested that amino acid residues of the 15-42 fragment of BβN-domain presented in desAB fibrin, cleaved in...

The relationship between platelet release and fibrinopeptide A cleavage from fibrinogen to form fibrin I in vitro was examined in blood allowed to clot undisturbed or with gentle agitation. In undisturbed or agitated blood platelet release and fibrin I formation occurred simultaneously. When hirudin was added to undisturbed blood it prevented platelet release as well as fibrin I formation. In c...

Fibrin has recently been shown to activate platelets through the immunoglobulin receptor glycoprotein VI (GPVI). In the present study, we show that spreading of human platelets on fibrin is abolished in patients deficient in GPVI, confirming that fibrin activates human platelets through the immunoglobulin receptor. Using a series of proteolytic fragments, we show that D-dimer, but not the E fra...

Fibrinogen Paris I, a congenital fibrinogen abnormality, is characterized by delayed fibrin aggregation and poor clot retraction owing to the replacement of normal gamma-chains by mutant gamma-chains, which are termed gamma-Paris I. Available evidence indicates that the structural abnormality involves the amino acid sequence near the COOH-terminus of the mutant chain and probably includes the r...

Plasma fibronectin has been shown to increase the binding of fibrin monomer to macrophages in vitro. In the present study we began characterization of the mechanism underlying this fibronectin activity. Fragments of fibronectin containing the amino terminus enhanced macrophage fibrin binding to the same extent as intact fibronectin on an equimolar basis. However, fibronectin fragments containin...