In the present study we have investigated whether the collagen receptor a2b1 (GPIa-IIa; GP, glycoprotein) regulates protein tyrosine phosphorylation in platelets directly through activation of tyrosine kinases or indirectly through modification of the response to GPVI. The interaction of collagen with a2b1 was inhibited in two distinct ways, using the metalloprotease jararhagin, which cleaves the b1 subunit, or the antibody P1E6 which competes with binding of collagen to the integrin. The two inhibitors caused a shift to the right in the collagen concentration response curves for protein tyrosine phosphorylation and platelet activation consistent with a causal relationship between the two events. There was no change in the overall pattern of tyrosine phosphorylation in response to high concentrations of collagen in the presence of a2b1 blockade demonstrating that the integrin is not required for this event. In contrast, jararhagin and P1E6 had a small, almost negligible inhibitory effect against responses to the GPVI-selective agonist collagen-related peptide (CRP) and the G protein-coupled receptor agonist thrombin. Crosslinking of a2b1 in solution or by adhesion to a monolayer using a variety of antibodies to either subunit of the integrin did not induce detectable protein tyrosine phosphorylation in whole cell lysates. The snake venom toxin trimucytin-stimulated a similar pattern of tyrosine phosphorylation to that induced by crosslinking of GPVI which was maintained in the presence of jararhagin. Trimucytin may therefore induce activation via GPVI rather than a2b1 as previously thought. These observations show that the integrin a2b1 is not required for regulation of tyrosine phosphorylation by collagen.Keywords: collagen; GPIa-IIa; GPVI; platelets; tyrosine phosphorylation.When the subendothelium lining is damaged, platelets adhere to newly exposed collagen fibres and undergo activation leading to thromboxane A 2 formation, aminophospholipid exposure, granule secretion and platelet aggregation. Several surface glycoproteins have been implicated as collagen receptors, including glycoprotein (GP) IV (also known as CD36), GPVI, a recently cloned protein of 65 kDa protein, a 85/90 kDa protein and the integrin a2b1. GPVI and a2b1 are believed to play pivotal roles in the interaction of platelets with collagen as patients deficient in the expression of either protein have impaired collagen±platelet interactions and mild bleeding disorders. The consensus is that the integrin a2b1 plays a critical role in adhesion, whilst GPVI is essential for activation.
There is evidence for minor roles of other receptors in these responses (reviewed in [1±3]).GPVI is associated with the Fc receptor g-chain (FcR g-chain) on the platelet surface [4,5], and crosslinking leads to phosphorylation of the FcR g-chain on a sequence known as an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM) [6], probably by a Src kinase [7,8]. This enables binding and activation of the tyrosine kinase Syk, starting a chain of events that leads to t...