Biology of von Willebrand Disease

Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a key coagulation protein, tethering platelets to sites of injury through binding sites for platelet GPIbα and for exposed subendothelial collagen. VWF synthesis occurs in endothelial cells and megakaryocytes, a complex process involving the VWF propeptide, dimerization and multimerization, and glycosylation. Von Willebrand disease (VWD) results from defects or dysfunction in VWF and includes both quantitative and qualitative issues with the VWF protein. VWF is cleaved by ADAMTS13 and ultimately cleared from circulation. While it is clear that VWF plays an important role in clot formation, it may also be important in a number of other areas including angiogenesis. Our knowledge of VWF has come a long way in the 100 years since the first publication by Erik von Willebrand in 1926 thanks to a large number of researchers in the VWF biology field.