Distributed May 31, 2002 News Service Contact: Scott Turner
Protein complex found to regulate first step in human blood
clotting Using human blood, Brown University scientists show
that a complex of seven proteins is required for platelets to
form the shape-changing filaments that begin a blood clot.
Understanding this dynamic could lead to better treatments for
abnormal clotting, which is the chief cause of stroke. The study
appears in the June 15 issue of Blood. PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Brown
scientists have described a previously unknown but critical
blood-clotting role for Arp2/3, a complex of seven proteins
found in animal and plant cells. Reporting in the June 15 issue
of Blood, the scientists show that Arp2/3 complex is a cellular
machine that drives a human blood platelet to change shape into
a larger, more flattened form and begin the process of clotting.
The link between what happens at the surface of a platelet and
the mechanism of shape change within it has mystified scientists
for decades. Arp2/3 has b