A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC—James) reveals how a clotting protein and blood ...
Jan 14, 2020
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(HealthDay)—For patients with elevated lipoprotein(a) levels and established cardiovascular disease, hepatocyte-directed antisense oligonucleotide AKCEA-APO(a)-LRX (APO(a)-LRX) reduces lipoprotein(a) levels, according to ...
Jan 03, 2020
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Heparin is frequently employed to mitigate the risk of clot formation in the leg veins following surgery, to treat venous thromboses and to prevent thrombotic occlusions of arteries in patients at risk for heart attacks. ...
Dec 20, 2019
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Bleeding can happen during surgery, after trauma, or even spontaneously. And when it does, blood cells called platelets rush in to stick to the injured blood vessels and stop bleeding as quickly as possible. Or at least that's ...
Dec 12, 2019
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The Lipid Hypothesis of coronary artery disease has long held that a high level of cholesterol is the causative factor of atherosclerosis, but a group of New York scientists is making a powerful case for platelets as the ...
In neuroendocrine tumor treatment, different methods of predicting patient response may be required for different patients, according to new research published in the October issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. By tailoring ...
Oct 29, 2019
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The biggest risks for cardiovascular disease are smoking and poor diet. However, different people are more susceptible to heart disease based on very slight differences in their genes, called variants. While there have been ...
Sep 04, 2019
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Platelets—tiny cells critical for blood clotting—could be the key to protecting against brain damage occurring during pregnancy or around the time of birth.
Aug 02, 2019
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Various diseases can cause hemorrhages or thromboses, sometimes fatal, resulting in particular from complications during surgery. This may take the form of a dysfunction of the platelets (hemostasis), the blood cells that ...
Jun 21, 2019
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Under normal, healthy circulatory conditions, the von Willebrand Factor (vWF) keeps to itself. The large and mysterious multimeric glycoprotein moves through the blood, balled up tightly, its reaction sites unexposed. But ...
May 21, 2019
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Platelets, or thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are small, irregularly shaped clear cell fragments (i.e. cells that do not have a nucleus containing DNA), 2–3 µm in diameter, which are derived from fragmentation of precursor megakaryocytes. The average lifespan of a platelet is normally just 5 to 9 days. Platelets are a natural source of growth factors. They circulate in the blood of mammals and are involved in hemostasis, leading to the formation of blood clots.
If the number of platelets is too low, excessive bleeding can occur. However, if the number of platelets is too high, blood clots can form (thrombosis), which may obstruct blood vessels and result in such events as a stroke, myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism or the blockage of blood vessels to other parts of the body, such as the extremities of the arms or legs. An abnormality or disease of the platelets is called a thrombocytopathy, which could be either a low number of platelets (thrombocytopenia), a decrease in function of platelets (thrombasthenia), or an increase in the number of platelets (thrombocytosis). There are disorders that reduce the number of platelets, such as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) that typically cause thromboses, or clots, instead of bleeding.
Platelets release a multitude of growth factors including Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), a potent chemotactic agent, and TGF beta, which stimulates the deposition of extracellular matrix. Both of these growth factors have been shown to play a significant role in the repair and regeneration of connective tissues. Other healing-associated growth factors produced by platelets include basic fibroblast growth factor, insulin-like growth factor 1, platelet-derived epidermal growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor. Local application of these factors in increased concentrations through Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been used as an adjunct to wound healing for several decades.
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