[Biology of von Willebrand factor and pathogenesis of von Willebrand disease].

Von Willebrand disease (VWD) is an inherited bleeding disorder caused by quantitative and qualitative abnormalities of von Willebrand factor (VWF), a multimeric glycoprotein that is the largest of its kind in plasma and is also found in platelet alpha granules and Weibel-Palade bodies of endothelial cells. VWF plays two roles in hemostasis: (1) primary hemostasis via adhesion of platelet GPIb to subendothelial connective tissue and (2) stabilization of coagulation factor VIII. The pathological classification proposed by the International Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) in 1994 divided VWF into three major categories based on the results of VWF:RCo, VWF:Ag, and multimer analysis. Recent genetic analysis and molecular and cellular analysis of abnormal VWF have revealed a molecular basis for the dominant inheritance form of VWD.