In traditional Eastern medicine, horseflies are used as anti-thrombosis material for hundreds of years. In recent years, the research team led by Prof. Lai Ren from Kunming Institute of Zoology,

Chinese Academy of Sciences has identified several families of proteins or peptides with pharmacological activities from the horsefly Tabanus yao Macquart(MCP 2008, 7:582-90; MCP 2009, 8:2071-9; Dev Comp Immunol 2008;32:1242-7; Toxicon 2010;55:45-51; Allergy 2011, 66:101-9.). Recently, collaborated with Prof. Jose and Dr. Ivo of NIH, they have molecularly characterized a novel family of RGD-containing disintegrin(Tablysin-15) from the salivary gland of the hematophagous horsefly Tabanus yao. Tablysin-15 can obviously inhibit platelet aggregation and tube formation by blocking the membrane receptor aIIbb3 and aVbb. The RGD motif in the unique sequence of Tablysin-15 represents a novel template for studying the structure-function relationship of the disintegrin family of inhibitors

This work has been published on Thromb Haemost. 2011;105:1032-45. The research was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation and 973 project of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.