Pharmacologic inhibition of platelet vWF-GPIbα interaction prevents coronary artery thrombosis

Under high shear arterial blood flow von Willebrand Factor (vWF) binds the platelet receptor glycoprotein (GP) Ib alpha, leading to platelet adhesion, activation and thrombosis. Blockade of vWF-GPIb alpha interactions by GPG-290 was investigated in a canine model of coronary artery thrombosis alone and in combination with clopidogrel. GPG-290 (100 mu g/kg, n=6; 500 mu g/kg, n=6) prolonged time to thrombotic occlusion (TTO) to 105 34 and 156 +/- 23 (p < 0.05) min, respectively compared to the saline treated control group (32 +/- 6 min, n=6). Patency of the injured vessel was sustained in 1/6 (100 mu g/kg) and 3/6 vessels (500 mu g/kg) 4 hours after injury, in contrast to 0/6 in the control group. There was an increase in bleeding after the 500 mu g/kg dose, but only at the 1 hr time point. Clopidogrel was studied in two dosing regimens representing either a clinical pretreatment regimen (PTR) of 4.3 mg/kg on day -2 followed by 1.1 mg/kg daily for 2 days prior to the procedure or pre-procedural loading dose regimen (LDR) of 4.3 mg/kg 3 hr pre-procedure. The PTR and LDR clopidogrel treatments prolonged TTO to 98.2 +/- 30.0 min and 136.1 +/- 39.5 min (p < 0.05), and sustained patency in 1/6 and 4/8 vessels, respectively. However, template bleeding time in the LDR clopidogrel group was sustained higher than the control group. The combination of PTR clopidogrel and GPG-290 (100 mu g/kg) prolonged TTO equivalent to LDR clopidogrel alone (141.4 +/- 35.1 min) and sustained patency in 3/7 dogs, without increased bleeding while LDR clopidogrel combined with 100 mu g/kg GPG-290 prevented occlusion in 5/8 dogs and further prolonged TTO (73.5 +/- 32.6 min) but was associated with increased bleeding compared to control. GPG-290 is an antithrombotic agent that may be combined with lower doses of clopidogrel to yield similar antithrombotic efficacy as higher loading doses.