American Society of Hematology, Blood, 2(125), p. 219-222, 2015
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2014-08-597542
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Platelet aggregation at sites of vascular injury is essential for hemostasis but also thrombosis. Platelet adhesiveness is critically dependent on agonist-induced inside-out activation of heterodimeric integrin receptors by a mechanism involving the recruitment of talin-1 to the cytoplasmic integrin tail. Experiments in heterologous cells have suggested a critical role of Rap1-GTP-Interacting Adaptor Molecule (RIAM) for talin-1 recruitment and thus integrin activation, but direct in vivo evidence to support this has been missing. We have generated RIAM-null mice and found that they are viable, fertile and apparently healthy. Unexpectedly, platelets from these mice show unaltered β3- and β1-integrin activation and consequently normal adhesion and aggregation responses under static and flow conditions. Similarly, hemostasis and arterial thrombus formation were indistinguishable between wild-type and RIAM-null mice. These results reveal that RIAM is dispensable for integrin activation and function in mouse platelets, strongly suggesting the existence of alternative mechanisms of talin-1 recruitment.