Anthrax lethal and edema toxins fail to directly impair human platelet function.

Abstract

Hemorrhage is a prominent clinical manifestation of systemic anthrax. Therefore, we have examined the effects of anthrax lethal and edema toxins on human platelets. We find that anthrax lethal toxin fails to cleave its target, mitogen-activated protein kinase 1, and anthrax edema toxin fails to increase intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate. Surface expression of toxin receptors tumor endothelial marker 8 and capillary morphogenesis gene 2, as well as coreceptor low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6), are markedly reduced, preventing toxin binding to platelets. Our studies suggest that the hemorrhagic clinical manifestations of systemic anthrax are unlikely to be caused by the direct binding and entry of anthrax toxins into human platelets.