Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 2 (PAI2)

Plasminogen activator inhibitor-2 (placental PAI) is a coagulation factor that inactivates tPA and urokinase. It is present in most cells, especially monocytes/macrophages. PAI-2 exists in two forms, a 60-kDa extracellular glycosylated form and a 43-kDa intracellular form.

It is present only at detectable quantities in blood during pregnancy, as it is produced by the placenta, and may explain partially the increased rate of thrombosis during pregnancy. The majority of expressed PAI-2 remains unsecreted due to the presence of an inefficient internal signal peptide.the intron-exon arrangement of PAI2 is identical to that of chicken ovalbumin and Y genes and distinct from that of other members of the serpin superfamily.