Antibody Inhibitors to von Willebrand Factor Metalloproteinase and Increased Binding of von Willebrand Factor to Platelets in Ticlopidine-Associated Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Abstract

In the patients who developed ticlopidine-associated TTP, autoantibodies to the vWF metalloproteinase were formed; this led to the same type of vWF abnormalities observed in patients with idiopathic acute TTP. The findings suggest that failure to process large and unusually large vWF multimers in vivo caused binding of vWF to platelets, systemic platelet thrombosis, and TTP.