How it all starts: Initiation of the clotting cascade

• Published in: Critical reviews in biochemistry and molecular biology Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 326 - 336
• Main Authors: Smith, Stephanie A., Travers, Richard J., Morrissey, James H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Informa Healthcare 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Animals; Blood Coagulation; contact pathway; factor VII; factor XII; Hemostasis; Humans; Models, Biological; Platelet Activation; polyphosphate; Proteolysis; Thromboplastin - analysis; Thromboplastin - metabolism; Thrombosis - blood; Thrombosis - metabolism; tissue factor; contact pathway; polyphosphate; Blood coagulation; tissue factor; factor VII; factor XII

The plasma coagulation system in mammalian blood consists of a cascade of enzyme activation events in which serine proteases activate the proteins (proenzymes and procofactors) in the next step of the cascade via limited proteolysis. The ultimate outcome is the polymerization of fibrin and the activ...