Human vWF-A2 Antibody

von Willebrand Factor (vWF) is a large, multimeric glycoprotein made by endothelial cells and megakaryocytes. The pre-pro-vWF protein contains 2813 amino acids (aa), which consists of 22 aa signal peptide, 741 aa propeptide, and mature vWF monomer of 2050 aa (1-4). The pro-vWF undergoes dimerization in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) through C-terminal “cysteine-knot” (CK) domain. The pro-vWF dimmers are transported to Golgi and form multimers by forming disulfide bond in amino-terminal region of the mature form. The proteolytic processing of pro-region also occurs in Golgi. The matured vWF is stored in Weibel-Pallade bodies in endothelial cells and granules in megakaryocytes and platelets. The unusually-large vWF (ulvWF) multimers released from cells are very efficient in binding to platelets to form thrombus. The population of these highly active ulvWF multimers is controlled by a specific protease, ADAMTS13, which cleaves between residues Tyr1605 and Met1606 in the A2 domain of vWF. In the plasma, vWF appears as a series of large and intermediate multimers with molecular masses from several thousand to 500 kDa. vWF also performs hemostatic functions (3-5). In a high shear-stressed environment, vWF undergoes conformational change to expose a binding site for glycoprotein Ib alpha. As a result, vWF facilitates aggregation of platelets. In addition to platelet binding, vWF binds coagulation factor VIII to increase the lifetime of FVIII in plasma. The purified rhvWF-A2 contains the A2 domain of vWF.