A candidate activation pathway for coagulation factor VII

The mechanism of generation of factor VIIa, considered the initiating protease in the tissue factor-initiated extrinsic limb of blood coagulation, is obscure. Decreased levels of plasma VIIa in individuals with congenital factor IX deficiency suggest that generation of VIIa is dependent on an activation product of factor IX. Factor VIIa activates IX to IXa by a two-step removal of the activation peptide with cleavages occurring after R191 and R226. Factor IXaα, however, is IX cleaved only after R226, and not after R191. We tested the hypothesis that IXaα activates VII with mutant IX that could be cleaved only at R226 and thus generate only IXaα upon activation. Factor IXaα demonstrated 1.6% the coagulant activity of IXa in a contact activation-based assay of the intrinsic activation limb and was less efficient than IXa at activating factor X in the presence of factor VIIIa. However, IXaα and IXa had indistinguishable amidolytic activity, and, strikingly, both catalyzed the cleavage required to convert VII to VIIa with indistinguishable kinetic parameters that were augmented by phospholipids, but not by factor VIIIa or tissue factor. We propose that IXa and IXaα participate in a pathway of reciprocal activation of VII and IX that does not require a protein cofactor. Since both VIIa and activated IX are equally plausible as the initiating protease for the extrinsic limb of blood coagulation, it might be appropriate to illustrate this key step of hemostasis as currently being unknown.