scholarly journals How I treat type 2 variant forms of von Willebrand disease

Blood ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 125 (6) ◽  
pp. 907-914 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Tosetto ◽  
Giancarlo Castaman

AbstractType 2 von Willebrand disease (VWD) includes a wide range of qualitative abnormalities of von Willebrand factor structure and function resulting in a variable bleeding tendency. According to the current classification, 4 different subtypes can be identified, each with distinctive phenotypic and therapeutic characteristics. Current available laboratory methods allow a straightforward approach to VWD subtyping, and although the precise molecular characterization remains complex, it is not required for appropriate treatment of the vast majority of cases. Desmopressin can be useful only in a few type 2 cases compared with patients with actual quantitative deficiency (type 1), most often in variants with a nearly normal multimeric pattern (type 2M). However, since no laboratory test accurately predicts response to desmopressin, a trial test should always be performed in all type 2 VWD patients, with the exception of type 2B ones. Replacement therapy with plasma-derived von Willebrand factor-factor VIII concentrates represents the safe mainstay of treatment of all patients, particularly those not responding to desmopressin or requiring a sustained hemostatic correction because of major surgery or bleeding. A significant patient bleeding history correlates with increased bleeding risk and should be considered in tailoring the optimal antihemorrhagic prophylaxis in the individual patient.

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (02) ◽  
pp. 192-200
Author(s):  
James S. O'Donnell

AbstractThe biological mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 and type 3 von Willebrand disease (VWD) have been studied extensively. In contrast, although accounting for the majority of VWD cases, the pathobiology underlying partial quantitative VWD has remained somewhat elusive. However, important insights have been attained following several recent cohort studies that have investigated mechanisms in patients with type 1 VWD and low von Willebrand factor (VWF), respectively. These studies have demonstrated that reduced plasma VWF levels may result from either (1) decreased VWF biosynthesis and/or secretion in endothelial cells and (2) pathological increased VWF clearance. In addition, it has become clear that some patients with only mild to moderate reductions in plasma VWF levels in the 30 to 50 IU/dL range may have significant bleeding phenotypes. Importantly in these low VWF patients, bleeding risk fails to correlate with plasma VWF levels and inheritance is typically independent of the VWF gene. Although plasma VWF levels may increase to > 50 IU/dL with progressive aging or pregnancy in these subjects, emerging data suggest that this apparent normalization in VWF levels does not necessarily equate to a complete correction in bleeding phenotype in patients with partial quantitative VWD. In this review, these recent advances in our understanding of quantitative VWD pathogenesis are discussed. Furthermore, the translational implications of these emerging findings are considered, particularly with respect to designing personalized treatment plans for VWD patients undergoing elective procedures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 107602961986691
Author(s):  
Chatphatai Moonla ◽  
Benjaporn Akkawat ◽  
Yaowaree Kittikalayawong ◽  
Autcharaporn Sukperm ◽  
Mukmanee Meesanun ◽  
...  

Correlations between bleeding symptoms and von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels may help to predict hemorrhagic severity in the Westerners with von Willebrand disease (VWD), but data in Asians are lacking. In this study, Thai patients with VWF levels <50 IU/dL without any secondary causes were enrolled from 1988 to 2018 to determine the relationship between VWF levels and hemorrhagic manifestations. According to the current concept, we reclassified VWD and low VWF by VWF levels ≤30 and 30 to 50 IU/dL, respectively. Type 2 VWD was diagnosed if VWF activity to antigen ratio was ≤0.6. Bleeding severity was determined by the condensed MCMDM-1VWD bleeding score (BS). Among 83 patients, VWF activities showed negative correlations with BS ( P = .001), which were higher in type 2 (median: 7, interquartile range [IQR]: 5-11) compared with type 1 VWD (median: 3, IQR: 2-4) and low VWF (median: 4, IQR: 2-8). Bleeding symptoms were indistinguishable between type 1 VWD and low VWF using the 30 IU/dL cutoff point. However, VWF ristocetin cofactor activity or gain-of-function mutant glycoprotein Ib binding activity <36.5 IU/dL and VWF collagen binding activity <34.5 IU/dL could predict increased bleeding risk (BS ≥3) by 92.3% specificity and 70.0% sensitivity ( P < .0001).


2011 ◽  
Vol 105 (04) ◽  
pp. 647-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Tosetto ◽  
Augusto Federici ◽  
Francesco Rodeghiero ◽  
Giancarlo Castaman

SummaryAccelerated clearance of von Willebrand factor (VWF) has been recently identified as a major pathophysiologic mechanism inducing low VWF in some patients with von Willebrand disease (VWD). The frequency of bleeding and the best treatment of these patients have never been evaluated prospectively in large series of patients. It was the aim of the present study to prospectively evaluate clinical events of 60 heterozygous patients with VWD Vicenza (VWD-VI) carrying R1205H VWF mutation and 23 with C1130F mutation, both characterised by markedly increased VWF clearance. During 71 months of follow-up, 65% of patients with VWD-VI and 61% with C1130F required treatment. The rate of spontaneous bleeding requiring consultation/treatment was 7.5/100 patients-year in patients with C1130F mutation vs. 1.9/100 patients-year in those with R1205H (p=0.004). This difference persisted also by multivariate analysis adjusted for sex, age and blood group (hazard ratio [HR]=3.3 for C1130F, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16–9.27) and females were at greater risk of bleeding (HR=3, 95%CI 1.01–9.93) because of menorrhagia. Only 3/15 (20 %) women in fertile age with VWD-VI compared to 8/9 (89 %) with C1130F mutation required consultation/treatment for menorrhagia (iron supplementation, combined oral contraceptives, tranexamic acid). Almost all dental extractions, minor surgeries and deliveries occurring during follow-up were successfully managed with desmopressin. Major surgery required factor VIII/VWF concentrates, but a few cases benefited from desmopressin. In conclusion, similar to patients with type 1 VWD, also in patients with increased VWF clearance desmopressin maintains a major therapeutic role.


1993 ◽  
Vol 69 (02) ◽  
pp. 173-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna M Randi ◽  
Elisabetta Sacchi ◽  
Gian Carlo Castaman ◽  
Francesco Rodeghiero ◽  
Pier Mannuccio Mannucci

SummaryType I von Willebrand disease (vWD) Vicenza is a rare variant with autosomal dominant transmission, characterized by the presence of supranormal von Willebrand factor (vWF) multimers in plasma, similar to those normally found in endothelial cells and megakaryocytes. The patients have very low levels of plasma vWF contrasting with a mild bleeding tendency. The pathophysiology of this subtype is still unknown. The presence of supranormal multimers in the patients’ plasma could be due to a mutation in the vWF molecule which affects post-translational processing, or to a defect in the cells’ processing machinery, independent of the vWF molecule. In order to determne if type I vWD Vicenza is linked to the vWF gene, we studied six polymorphic systems identified within the vWF gene in two apparently unrelated families with type I vWD Vicenza. The results of this study indicate a linkage between vWF gene and the type I vWD Vicenza trait. This strongly suggests that type I vWD Vicenza is due to a mutation in one of the vWF alleles, which results in an abnormal vWF molecule that is processed to a lesser extent than normal vWF.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (04) ◽  
pp. 760-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Mohri ◽  
Etsuko Yamazaki ◽  
Zekou Suzuki ◽  
Toshikuni Takano ◽  
Shumpei Yokota ◽  
...  

SummaryA 20-year-old man with severe von Willebrand disease recently presented a progressive bleeding tendency, characterized recurrent subcutaneous hemorrhages and cerebral hemorrhage. Mixing and infusion studies suggested the presence of an inhibitor directed against vWF:RCo activity of von Willebrand factor (vWF) without significant inhibition of the FVIII:C. The inhibitor was identified as an antibody of IgG class. The inhibitor inhibited the interaction of vWF in the presence of ristocetin and that of asialo-vWF with GPIb while it partially blocked botrocetin-mediated interaction of vWF to GPIb. The inhibitor reacted with native vWF, the 39/34kDa fragment (amino acids [aa] 480/ 481-718) and the recombinant vWF fragment (MalE-rvWF508-704), but not with Fragment III-T2 (heavy chains, aa 273-511; light chains, aa 674-728). A synthetic peptide (aa 514-542) did not inhibit vWF-inhibitor complex formation. We conclude that this is the first autoantibody of class IgG from human origin that recognizes the sequence in the A1 loop of vWF, resulting in a virtual absence of functional vWF and a concomitant severe bleeding tendency although recognition site is different from the residues 514-542 which is crucial for vWF-GPIb interaction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 432 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Tischer ◽  
Maria A. Brehm ◽  
Venkata R. Machha ◽  
Laurie Moon-Tasson ◽  
Linda M. Benson ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 84 (10) ◽  
pp. 3378-3384 ◽  
Author(s):  
PJ van Genderen ◽  
T Vink ◽  
JJ Michiels ◽  
MB van 't Veer ◽  
JJ Sixma ◽  
...  

Abstract An 82-year-old man with a low-grade malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma and an IgG3 lambda monoclonal gammopathy presented a recently acquired bleeding tendency, characterized by recurrent epistaxis, easy bruising, and episodes of melena, requiring packed red blood cell transfusions. Coagulation studies showed a von Willebrand factor (vWF) defect (Ivy bleeding time, > 15 minutes; vWF antigen [vWF:Ag], 0.08 U/mL; ristocetin cofactor activity [vWF:RCoF], < 0.05 U/mL; collagen binding activity [vWF:CBA], 0.01 U/mL; absence of the high molecular weight multimers of vWF on multimeric analysis). Mixing experiments suggested the presence of an inhibitor directed against the vWF:CBA activity of vWF without significantly inhibiting the FVIII:C, vWF:Ag, and vWF:RCoF activities. The inhibitor was identified as an antibody of the IgM class by immunoabsorption of vWF and inhibitor-vWF complexes from the plasma of the patient. Subsequent immunoprecipitation experiments using recombinant fragments of vWF showed that the inhibitor reacted with both the glycoprotein Ib binding domain (amino acids [aa] 422–826) and the A3 (aa 909–1112) domain of vWF, but not with the A2 (aa 716–908) or D4 (aa 1183–1535) domains. We conclude that the IgM autoantibody inhibits the vWF:CBA activity by reacting with an epitope present on both the glycoprotein Ib and A3 domains of vWF.


Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 110 (11) ◽  
pp. 2711-2711
Author(s):  
Reinhard Schneppenheim ◽  
Olivier Marggraf ◽  
Heike Eckert ◽  
Tobias Obser ◽  
Florian Oyen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Multimer analysis of von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a most important technique to classify patients with von Willebrand disease (VWD) type 2. Besides “classical” multimer patterns a “smeary” appearance of individual VWF oligomers is increasingly observed and has previously been regarded as a pre-analytical artifact. Objective: To phenotypically and genotypically assess the molecular background of “smeary” VWF multimers. Patients and methods: Samples of 8 VWD patients were analyzed in our reference lab (UB) for further classification and molecular testing. Multimer profiles were assessed by intermediate resolution gels. VWF:CB and VWF:GpIb binding were used as functional assays. VWF gene mutation analysis was performed in all index cases (IC). The causal relationship between genotype and phenotype was studied by analyzing recombinant mutants in comparison to wildtype VWF. Results: In all IC the phenotype correlated with particular mutations in the VWF D3 domain (G1172D), the A1 domain (R1315C, R1374S, R1374C, R1399C), the D4 domain (C2257R), the C1 domain (R2464C) and in the region close to the CK domain (C2671Y), respectively. The multimer patterns of recombinant mutant VWF was of a “smeary” appearance and closely resembled those of mutant plasma VWF. Mutations in the A1 domain additionally correlated with severe GpIb binding deficiency. Conclusions: Our data suggest a molecular cause of the “smeary” multimer structure rather than pre-analytical artifacts. Most of the mutations identified involved cysteine residues suggesting an influence on the VWF secondary structure which is determined by intra- and intermolecular disulfide bonds. This could explain the peculiar multimer appearance. The functional deficits, however, seem to depend on the location of the mutations with a significant impact on GpIb binding of mutants in the A1 domain.


Blood ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 125 (13) ◽  
pp. 2019-2028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Lenting ◽  
Olivier D. Christophe ◽  
Cécile V. Denis

Abstract To understand the placement of a certain protein in a physiological system and the pathogenesis of related disorders, it is not only of interest to determine its function but also important to describe the sequential steps in its life cycle, from synthesis to secretion and ultimately its clearance. von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a particularly intriguing case in this regard because of its important auxiliary roles (both intra- and extracellular) that implicate a wide range of other proteins: its presence is required for the formation and regulated release of endothelial storage organelles, the Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs), whereas VWF is also a key determinant in the clearance of coagulation factor VIII. Thus, understanding the molecular and cellular basis of the VWF life cycle will help us gain insight into the pathogenesis of von Willebrand disease, design alternative treatment options to prolong the factor VIII half-life, and delineate the role of VWF and coresidents of the WPBs in the prothrombotic and proinflammatory response of endothelial cells. In this review, an update on our current knowledge on VWF biosynthesis, secretion, and clearance is provided and we will discuss how they can be affected by the presence of protein defects.


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