Studies on the different modes of action of the anticoagulant protease inhibitors DX-9065a and argatroban - II. Effects on fibrinolysis

The accompanying paper (Nagashima, H. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 50439-50444) has demonstrated that argatroban can yield a stronger inhibitory effect on thrombin generation than DX-9065a during extrinsic pathway-stimulated human plasma coagulation, while these anticoagulant compounds have comparable abilities to prolong clot time. Since thrombin generation is known to be an important determinant for fibrinolytic resistance of clots formed during coagulation, the two compounds are compared by tissue plasminogen activator-induced clot lysis assays. The results demonstrated that, in the presence of thrombomodulin, argatroban dose dependently accelerated fibrinolysis of the clots, whereas DX-9065a did not. The activation of thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) determined in separate assays reflected the differential influence on thrombin generation by these compounds. Moreover, TAFI activation correlated closely with the fibrinolytic resistance observed during tissue plasminogen activator-induced clot lysis. This study demonstrates the differential effects of DX-9065a and argatroban on thrombin generation, which in turn results in a differential acceleration of fibrinolysis as well as TAFI activation in the clots formed under the influence of these compounds. The data implicate a possible difference in the antifibrinolytic properties of clots formed during treatment with these compounds.