The Critical Role of Kindlin-3 in Intiation of Physiological Thrombus Formation ~ Analysis of Kindlin-3 Deficient Patient

Background: Kindlin-3 which is expressed mainly in hematopoietic cells, is essential for platelet fibrinogen receptor integrin αIIbβ3 (GPIIb-IIIa) activation and kindlin-3 deficiency causes severe bleeding problems. αIIbβ3 activation is tightly regulated by inside-out signaling, and the direct interaction of talin and kindlin-3 with β3-cytoplasmic tail following CalDAG-GEFI-induced Rap1 activation is critical for αIIbβ3 activation. We have reported that immediate and sustained αIIbβ3 activation by inside-out signaling is important for thrombus formation under physiological conditions (Blood 2016). However, the details of inside-out signaling are not still fully understood. Recently we identified patient with kindlin-3 deficiency as the first Japanese patient with kindlin-3 deficiency caused by novel p.W277X nonsense mutation. To clarify the role of kindlin-3 and the molecular mechanism of inside-out signaling, we analyzed single platelet behavior adhered on collagen under physiological flow conditions, and established kindlin-3 deficient human erythroleukemia HEL cell line.

Case: The patient was 8-month old female, born to Japanese consanguineous parents. She has been suffering from bleeding tendency shortly after birth. Her peripheral blood showed slightly decreased platelet count (95x10³/L), anemia (Hb 6.9 g/L), and elevated leukocyte count of 37.2x10⁶/L with 1.0% blast. Although the surface expressions of glycoproteins were comparable to healthy control, her platelet aggregations and αIIbβ3 activation were strongly impaired in all agonist stimulations due to defective kindlin-3 expression. The sequencing analysis revealed the homozygous novel nonsense mutation, p.W277X (c.918G>A) in kindlin-3.

Methods: Human platelets were obtained from healthy control subjects (CT) and patients with kindlin-3 deficiency and Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT). Whole blood was perfused at a shear rate 1,250s^-1 on collagen surface and shear-induced in vitro thrombus formation during 10 minutes was observed. To evaluate the single platelet behavior after the initial attachment on collagen, each single platelet was analyzed by CellTracker software (Pccinini F. et al. Bioinformatics 2015). To further determine the role of kindlin-3 in inside-out signaling, Kindlin-3 was knocked out by CRISPR-Cas9 system and established kindlin-3 deficient HEL cell line.

Results: First, we compared shear-induced thrombus formation between CT, GT, and kindlin-3 deficiency. In contrast to the stable and large platelet aggregate formation in CT after 10 minutes blood perfusion, almost no aggregate was observed in both GT and Kindlin-3 deficiency. In kindlin-3 deficiency, the initial platelet attachment on collagen seemed comparable to that of CT and GT. However, the single adherent platelets looked unstable. Next, we determined the behavior of initially attached platelets. Between CT, GT, and kindlin-3 deficiency, the numbers of platelets attached on collagen during 10 seconds were comparable. Between the initially attached platelets, 31.25% of CT platelets formed stable adhesion followed by platelet aggregation. Similar to CT, 33% of GT platelets adhered stably. However, these GT platelets did not proceed to aggregate formation due to αIIbβ3 deficiency. In contrast to GT, kindlin-3 deficient platelets showed increased detachment, only 9% of initially attached platelets stably adhered. These results suggest that kindlin-3 is indispensable for platelet initial adhesion to collagen by integrin α2β1 activation and explains severe bleeding symptoms in kindlin-3 deficiency than GT.

To further investigate how kindlin-3 contributes in initial platelet adhesion to collagen, we established kindlin-3 deficient HEL cell line. In contrast to parental HEL cells, PMA stimulation did not induce αIIbβ3 activation in kindlin-3 deficient HEL cells suggesting impaired inside-out signaling. The introduction of wild type kindlin-3 cDNA, but not W227X mutant, rescued αIIbβ3 activation.

Conclusion: The detailed analyses by tracking single adherent platelet on collagen confirmed the role of kindlin-3 in initial step of physiological thrombus formation. Newly established kindlin-3 deficient HEL cell line is useful for further exploration of the role of kindlin-3 and inside-out signaling in platelets and expected contribution for development of new antiplatelet therapy.