HUMAN-PLASMA PROTEIN-Z ANTIGEN - RANGE IN NORMAL SUBJECTS AND EFFECT OF WARFARIN THERAPY

  • 1 June 1987
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 69  (6) , 1580-1586
Abstract
In contrast to the other well-studied vitamin K-dependent proteins that circulate in plasma, protein Z antigen is much more variable. The concentration in plasmas collected in EDTA from 455 normal, healthy donors is normally distributed with a mean of 2.9 .mu.g/mL (46 nmol/L) and a SD of 1.0 .mu.g/mL (95% interval of 32% to 168% of the mean). No significant correlation to age or sex could be detected. In comparison, the concentration of protein C antigen measured with the same type of assay on the same 455 samples has a log normal distribution with a mean of 4.0 .mu.g/ml (65 nmol/L) and a 95% interval of 70% to 138% of the mean. Also in marked contrast to other plasma vitamin K-dependent proteins, the total protein Z antigen level is extremely low in patients on stable warfarin therapy (range 1% to 16% of normal). Moreover, even though > 95% of the antigen in normal plasmas adsorbs to barium citrate (a crude reflection of the presence of .gamma.-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) residues), in the patients taking warfarin almost all of the small amount of the antigen failed to adsorb, suggesting that virtually no protein Z had its full complement of Gla residues. Total protein C antigen in the same 25 patients averaged 53% of normal (34% to 72%) and 54% (average) of the total remaining antigen still adsorbed to barium citrate. The concentration of protein Z antigen in the plasma of a normal individual given a loading dose of warfarin fell at an initial rate of .apprx. 20% a day, indicating a plasma half-life (t 1/2) of 2 to 3 days.