Dynamic Regulation of Fibrinogen: Integrin αIIbβ3 Binding

This study demonstrates that two orthogonal events regulate integrin αIIbβ3’s interactions with fibrinogen, its primary physiological ligand: (1) conformational changes at the αIIb–β3 interface and (2) flexibility in the carboxy terminus of fibrinogen’s γ-module. The first postulate was tested by capturing αIIbβ3 on a biosensor and measuring binding by surface plasmon resonance. Binding of fibrinogen to eptifibatide-primed αIIbβ3 was characterized by a kon of ~2 × 104 L mol−1 s−1 and a koff of ~8 × 10−5 s−1 at 37 °C. In contrast, even at 150 nM fibrinogen, no binding was detected with resting αIIbβ3. Eptifibatide competitively inhibited fibrinogen’s interactions with primed αIIbβ3 (Ki ~ 0.4 nM), while a synthetic γ-module peptide (HHLGGAKQAGDV) was only weakly inhibitory (Ki > 10 µM). The second postulate was tested by measuring αIIbβ3’s interactions with recombinant fibrinogen, both normal (rFgn) and a deletion mutant lacking the γ-chain AGDV sites (rFgn γΔ408–411). Normal rFgn bound rapidly, tightly, and specifically to primed αIIbβ3; no interaction was detected with rFgn γΔ408–411. Equilibrium and transition-state thermodynamic data indicated that binding of fibrinogen to primed αIIbβ3, while enthalpy-favorable, must overcome an entropy-dominated activation energy barrier. The hypothesis that fibrinogen binding is enthalpy-driven fits with structural data showing that its γ-C peptide and eptifibatide exhibit comparable electrostatic contacts with αIIbβ3’s ectodomain. The concept that fibrinogen’s αIIbβ3 targeting sequence is intrinsically disordered may explain the entropy penalty that limits its binding rate. In the hemostatic milieu, platelet–platelet interactions may be localized to vascular injury sites because integrins must be activated before they can bind their most abundant ligand