BDCA-3/CD141

BDCA-3, better known in vascular biology as thrombomodulin, is the CD141 antigen and a type I transmembrane glycoprotein of endothelial cells. By binding thrombin, thrombomodulin redirects the protease from procoagulant substrates toward activation of protein C, generating the principal anticoagulant pathway, and it additionally supports thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor activation. In immunology, CD141 (BDCA-3) identifies the human CD141-positive dendritic cell subset that corresponds to the cross-presenting mouse CD8alpha-positive lineage, prized for antigen uptake and cytotoxic T cell priming. Soluble thrombomodulin serves as a marker of endothelial injury, and recombinant soluble thrombomodulin is used to treat disseminated intravascular coagulation.