Multimerin: a bench-to-bedside chronology of a unique platelet and endothelial cell protein--from discovery to function to abnormalities in disease.

In studies conducted about 8 years ago, the author and her colleagues raised a monoclonal antibody that recognized an uncharacterized human platelet protein with a reduced molecular mass of 155 kDa. Investigations of this protein's nonreduced structure yielded surprising findings: in its native state, it exists as massive disulfide-linked multimers millions of daltons in size, making it one of the largest proteins found in the human body. This …