Premium
Beta (β)‐antithrombin activity in children and adults: implications for heparin therapy in infants and children
Author(s) -
Karlaftis V.,
Sritharan G.,
Attard C.,
Corral J.,
Monagle P.,
Ignjatovic V.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of thrombosis and haemostasis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.947
H-Index - 178
eISSN - 1538-7836
pISSN - 1538-7933
DOI - 10.1111/jth.12597
Subject(s) - antithrombin , heparin , thrombin , anticoagulant , gene isoform , pharmacology , chemistry , medicine , immunology , biochemistry , platelet , gene
Summary Background Antithrombin, a hemostatic protein and naturally occurring anticoagulant, is a major thrombin inhibitor. The capacity of antithrombin to inhibit thrombin is known to increase a 1000‐fold whilst in the presence of unfractionated heparin. β‐antithrombin is an isoform of antithrombin with a high affinity for unfractionated heparin. This study aimed to determine the differences in the anticoagulant activity of the β‐antithrombin isoform in children compared with adults. Methods Plasma samples were obtained from 105 healthy individuals from the following age groups: neonates (day 1 and day 3), 28 days to 1 year, 1–5 years, 6–10 years, 11–16 years and adults. The method utilized to measure the activity of β‐antithrombin in plasma is a modified version of the total antithrombin assay routinely used in diagnostic laboratories. The modified version of this assay allows for the specific quantification of the β‐antithrombin glycoform anticoagulant activity alone, as the β‐antithrombin molecule is activated under a high salt concentration, which in turn does not allow activation of other antithrombin isoforms. Conclusions This study demonstrated that there are no age‐specific differences in the activity of β‐antithrombin. However, considering that the total AT activity is significantly reduced in neonates, our results suggest that in this population β‐antithrombin activity is a major contributor to the overall activity of AT.