| First Author | Hall KJ | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | e3277 |
| PubMed ID | 18815612 | Mgi Jnum | J:144254 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3830558 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0003277 |
| Citation | Hall KJ, et al. (2008) Genetic analysis of the role of protein kinase Ctheta in platelet function and thrombus formation. PLoS One 3(9):e3277 |
| abstractText | BACKGROUND: PKCtheta is a novel protein kinase C isozyme, predominately expressed in T cells and platelets. PKCtheta(-/-) T cells exhibit reduced activation and PKCtheta(-/-) mice are resistant to autoimmune disease, making PKCtheta an attractive therapeutic target for immune modulation. Collagen is a major agonist for platelets, operating through an immunoreceptor-like signalling pathway from its receptor GPVI. Although it has recently been shown that PKCtheta positively regulates outside-in signalling through integrin alpha(IIb)beta(3) in platelets, the role of PKCtheta in GPVI-dependent signalling and functional activation of platelets has not been assessed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study we assessed static adhesion, cell spreading, granule secretion, integrin alpha(IIb)beta(3) activation and platelet aggregation in washed mouse platelets lacking PKCtheta. Thrombus formation on a collagen-coated surface was assessed in vitro under flow. PKCtheta(-/-) platelets exhibited reduced static adhesion and filopodia generation on fibrinogen, suggesting that PKCtheta positively regulates outside-in signalling, in agreement with a previous report. In contrast, PKCtheta(-/-) platelets also exhibited markedly enhanced GPVI-dependent alpha-granule secretion, although dense granule secretion was unaffected, suggesting that PKCtheta differentially regulates these two granules. Inside-out regulation of alpha(IIb)beta(3) activation was also enhanced downstream of GPVI stimulation. Although this did not result in increased aggregation, importantly thrombus formation on collagen under high shear (1000 s(-1)) was enhanced. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These data suggest that PKCtheta is an important negative regulator of thrombus formation on collagen, potentially mediated by alpha-granule secretion and alpha(IIb)beta(3) activation. PKCtheta therefore may act to restrict thrombus growth, a finding that has important implications for the development and safe clinical use of PKCtheta inhibitors. |
