This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Heparin / antithrombin system

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Antithrombin is a serine protease inhibitor which inhibits the following coagulation factors:

  • thrombin
  • factor Xa
  • factors XIIa, XIIIa and IXa

Binding of heparin to antithrombin improves the speed with which antithrombin can neutralise these prothrombotic factors. In vivo, glycosaminoglycans on the endothelial cells serve as the endogenous catalysts for antithrombin activation.

Antithrombin deficiency is a cause of thrombophilia.

Heparin cofactor II is a distinct serine protease inhibitor which inhibits thrombin in the presence of heparin. Deficiency of heparin cofactor II may cause thrombophilia.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page