Impaired activation of platelets lacking protein kinase C-θ isoform

Abstract

Protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms have been implicated in several platelet functional responses, but the contribution of individual isoforms has not been thoroughly evaluated. Novel PKC isoform PKC-θ is activated by glycoprotein VI (GPVI) and protease-activated receptor (PAR) agonists, but not by adenosine diphosphate. In human platelets, PKC-θ–selective antagonistic (RACK; receptor for activated C kinase) peptide significantly inhibited GPVI and PAR-induced aggregation, dense and α-granule secretion at low agonist concentrations. Consistently, in murine platelets lacking PKC-θ, platelet aggregation and secretion were also impaired. PKC-mediated phosphorylation of tSNARE protein syntaxin-4 was strongly reduced in human platelets pretreated with PKC-θ RACK peptide, which may contribute to the lower levels of granule secretion when PKC-θ function is lost. Furthermore, the level of JON/A binding to activated αIIbβ3 receptor was also significantly decreased in PKC-θ−/− mice compared with wild-type littermates. PKC-θ−/− murine platelets showed significantly lower agonist-induced thromboxane A2 (TXA2) release through reduced extracellular signal–regulated kinase phosphorylation. Finally, PKC-θ−/− mice displayed unstable thrombus formation and prolonged arterial occlusion in the FeCl3 in vivo thrombosis model compared with wild-type mice. In conclusion, PKC-θ isoform plays a significant role in platelet functional responses downstream of PAR and GPVI receptors.