Mean Platelet Volume (MPV): New Perspectives for an Old Marker in the Course and Prognosis of Inflammatory Conditions.

Platelet size has been demonstrated to reflect platelet activity and seems to be a useful predictive and prognostic biomarker of cardiovascular events. It is associated with a variety of prothrombotic and proinflammatory diseases. The aim is a review of literature reports concerning changes in the mean platelet volume (MPV) and its possible role as a biomarker in inflammatory processes and neoplastic diseases.

Lectin adhesion proteins (P-, L- and E-selectins) as biomarkers in colorectal cancer.

Context: Selectins probably participate in the interactions between platelets and other inflammatory cells in cancer invasion and metastasis formation. We assessed a potential relationship of P-, L- and E-selectin in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in relation to tumour advancement according to TNM classification, and tumour location.

Materials And Methods: The study group was composed of 53 CRC patients and 25 healthy subjects.

Multifunctional CD40L: pro- and anti-neoplastic activity.

The CD40 ligand is a type I transmembrane protein that belongs to a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily. It is present not only on the surface of activated CD4+ T cells, B cells, blood platelets, monocytes, and natural killer (NK) cells but also on cancer cells. The receptor for ligand is constitutively expressed on cells, TNF family protein: CD40.

Potential role of soluble CD40 ligand as inflammatory biomarker in colorectal cancer patients.

Platelet activation observed in cancer patients is associated with the release of various cytokines, including P-selectin and CD40 ligand (CD40L). We analyzed the plasma levels of sCD40L in association with adhesion molecules (sP-selectin and sVCAM-1) to check the hypothesis of a possible involvement in cancer progression.Blood samples were obtained from 59 patients with different stages of colorectal cancer (CRC) and 29 age and gender-matched control subjects.