at present, some clinical presentations and serological parameters such as products of complement activation and elevation of autoantibodies (e.g. dsdna antibodies), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr), levels of c-reactive protein (crp), or cytokines such as il-2/il-2 receptor, il-6 and il-10 are used as indirect serological markers with variable degrees of significance. to date, no specific ...

Previously we have shown in a mouse model of bronchial asthma that thrombomodulin can convert immunogenic conventional dendritic cells into tolerogenic dendritic cells while inducing its own expression on their cell surface. Thrombomodulin(+) dendritic cells are tolerogenic while thrombomodulin(-) dendritic cells are pro-inflammatory and immunogenic. Here we hypothesized that thrombomodulin tre...

Thrombomodulin is an endothelial cell membrane protein that is a cofactor required for the rapid activation of plasma protein C. We now report that plasma and urine of normal subjects contains a modified form of thrombomodulin that is soluble. The levels measured by radioimmunoassay were 292 +/- 60 ng thrombomodulin/ml plasma and 102 +/- 38 ng thrombomodulin/ml urine. Thrombomodulin was isolate...

Thrombomodulin is a cell-surface anticoagulant glycoprotein expressed by vascular endothelial cells and epidermal keratinocytes. Thrombomodulin expression in endothelial cells is regulated by retinoic acid and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF), agents that also modulate epidermal differentiation. We examined thrombomodulin function and regulation of thrombomodulin expression by all-trans retino...

The procoagulant properties of cultured vascular endothelial cells are enhanced in response to inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF). A major component of this response is a reduction in expression of thrombomodulin, a cell surface cofactor for the activation of protein C. Regulation of thrombomodulin expression by TNF has been reported to occur through multiple mecha...

Thrombomodulin decreased by 20-30% the Michaelis constant of two tripeptidyl p-nitroanilide substrates of thrombin. Thrombomodulin increased the rate of inactivation of thrombin by two peptidyl chloromethane inhibitors by a similar amount. This effect appeared to be due to a decrease in the dissociation constants of the inhibitors. An improved method for the separation of fibrinopeptides A and ...

Thrombomodulin plays a role as a cofactor for thrombin-catalyzed activation of protein C on endothelial cells. We examined the effect of homocysteine, a stimulant of atherosclerosis and thrombotic disease, on the cofactor activity and protein level of thrombomodulin and also on the expression of thrombomodulin in endothelial cells. Homocysteine inhibited the cofactor activity of thrombomodulin ...

Thrombomodulin is an essential cofactor for the activation of the anticoagulant protein C by thrombin. We have identified the expression of thrombomodulin messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein in peripheral blood monocytes. While untreated monocytes expressed thrombomodulin mRNA by Northern blot analysis, lipopolysaccharide-treated cells had decreased mRNA expression. Thrombomodulin antigen was show...

OBJECTIVE Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific syndrome characterized by placental dysfunction and an angiogenic imbalance. Systemically, levels of thrombomodulin, an endothelium- and syncytiotrophoblast-bound protein that regulates coagulation, inflammation, apoptosis, and tissue remodeling, are increased. We aimed to investigate placental thrombomodulin dysregulation and consequent downstream...

Thrombin and trypsin activate protease-activated receptors (PARs) that modulate vascular tone. In addition to the PARs, thrombin also binds to thrombomodulin via exosite 1, a domain also involved in the interaction of thrombin with PAR-1 but not PAR-2. The purpose of this study was to determine whether thrombomodulin would alter thrombin-induced vasoconstriction, thought to be mediated predomin...