Peptide having anti-thrombus activity and method of producing the same

Abstract

A multimer peptide from a snake venom has an activity to inhibit binding between von Willebrand factor and platelets. The multimer peptide is used to obtain a single strand peptide which does not substantially cause decrease in platelets at a minimum dose for exhibiting the activity in vivo. The single strand peptide is obtained by allowing the multimer peptide to exist together with a protein-denaturing agent, and glutathione and/or cysteine, and thereby disconnecting disulfide bonds between peptide chains for constituting the multimer peptide while substantially preserving disulfide bonds within the peptide chains. Alternatively, the single strand peptide, a mutant thereof, or a part thereof is produced by genetic engineering techniques by using genes coding for them.

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