Factor XIII B Background Information
Hemostasis following tissue injury involves the deployment of essential plasma procoagulants (prothrombin, and factors X, IX, V and VIII), which are involved in a blood coagulation cascade leading to the formation of insoluble fibrin clots and the promotion of platelet aggregation (1-3). Coagulation factor VII (serum prothrombin conversion accelerator, proconvertin, F7, Factor VII) is a 406 amino acid, vitamin K-dependent, single chain serine protease that is synthesized in the liver and circulates as an inactive precursor (4,5). Factor IXa, factor Xa, factor XIIa, or thrombin mediated proteolytic cleavage of Factor VII at Arg152-Ile153 generates Factor VIIa, an active serine protease composed of a catalytic heavy chain disulfide linked to a light chain, containing 2 EGF-like domains (6). Coagulation factor XIII is a terminal effector in the blood coagulation cascade (7). Plasma factor XIII is a heterotetramer composed of 2 A subunits and 2 B subunits (7). The A subunits have catalytic function, and the noncatalytic B subunits may serve as plasma carrier molecules (7).
