Aims: Reduced left atrial PITX2 is associated with atrial cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation (AF). PITX2 is restricted to left atrial cardiomyocytes (aCMs) in the adult heart. The links between PITX2 deficiency, atrial cardiomyopathy, and AF are not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Glenoid bone loss (GBL) is common in patients with shoulder instability and plays a major role in surgical decision-making. While a plethora of GBL estimation methods exist, all of which present specific challenges, recent studies have developed simple linear formulas estimating GBL based on glenoid height.
Purpose: To assess the correlation between glenoid height and width, and to develop specific formulas based on age and sex to calculate the native glenoid width in the Lebanese population.
Lesions of the meniscocapsular junction and the meniscotibial ligament (MTL) of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus are common with knee ligamentous injuries and associated with residual rotational instability if left untreated. MTL avulsion from its tibial attachment has never been described among different types of meniscocapsular disruptions so far. Both diagnosis and treatment of such an injury can be challenging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVenous thrombosis (VT) is a serious medical condition in which a blood clot forms in deep veins, often causing limb swelling and pain. Current antithrombotic therapies carry significant bleeding risks resulting from targeting essential coagulation factors. Recent advances in this field have revealed that the cross talk between the innate immune system and coagulation cascade is a key driver of VT pathogenesis, offering new opportunities for potential therapeutic interventions without inducing bleeding complications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Free labile hemin acts as a damage-associated molecular pattern during acute and chronic hemolysis and muscle injury, supporting platelet activation and thrombosis.
Objectives: To investigate the anti-thrombotic potential of hydroxychloroquine on hemolysis-induced platelet activation and arterial thrombosis.
Methods: The effect of hydroxychloroquine on hemin-induced platelet activation and hemolysis-induced platelet recruitment and aggregation was measured in washed platelets and hemolyzed blood, respectively.
The bone marrow supports and regulates hematopoiesis, responding to physiological requirements for blood cell production over ontogeny and during pathological challenges. Interactions between hematopoietic cells and niche components are challenging to study mechanistically in the human context, but are important to delineate in order to explore the pathobiology of blood and bone marrow disorders. Organoids are proving transformative in many research settings, but an accurate human bone marrow model incorporating multiple hematopoietic and stromal elements has been lacking.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The recruitment of activated factor VIII (FVIII) at the surface of activated platelets is a key step toward the burst of thrombin and fibrin generation during thrombus formation at the site of vascular injury. It involves binding to phosphatidylserine and, possibly, to fibrin-bound αβ. Seminal work had shown the binding of FVIII to resting platelets, yet without a clear understanding of a putative physiological relevance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Recent advances in human cardiac 3D approaches have yielded progressively more complex and physiologically relevant culture systems. However, their application in the study of complex pathological processes, such as inflammation and fibrosis, and their utility as models for drug development have been thus far limited.
Methods: In this work, we report the development of chamber-specific, vascularised human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac microtissues, which allow for the multi-parametric assessment of cardiac fibrosis.
Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol
August 2023
Independent of etiology, hemolytic diseases are associated with thrombosis, inflammation and immune dysregulation, all together contributing to organ damage and poor outcome. Beyond anemia and the loss of the anti-inflammatory functions of red blood cells, hemolysis leads to the release of damage-associated molecular patterns including ADP, hemoglobin, and heme, which act through multiple receptors and signaling pathways fostering a hyperinflammatory and hypercoagulable state. Extracellular free heme is promiscuous alarmin capable of triggering oxido-inflammatory and thrombotic events by inducing the activation of platelets, endothelial and innate cells as well as the coagulation and complement cascades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe lack of innovation in von Willebrand disease (VWD) originates from many factors including the complexity and heterogeneity of the disease but also from a lack of recognition of the impact of the bleeding symptoms experienced by patients with VWD. Recently, a few research initiatives aiming to move past replacement therapies using plasma-derived or recombinant von Willebrand factor (VWF) concentrates have started to emerge. Here, we report an original approach using synthetic platelet (SP) nanoparticles for the treatment of VWD type 2B (VWD-2B) and severe VWD (type 3 VWD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The systemic inflammatory response post-SARS-CoV-2 infection increases pro-inflammatory cytokine production, multi-organ damage, and mortality rates. Mast cells (MC) modulate thrombo-inflammatory disease progression (, deep vein thrombosis) and the inflammatory response post-infection.
Objective: To enhance our understanding of the contribution of MC and their proteases in SARS-CoV-2 infection and the pathogenesis of the disease, which might help to identify novel therapeutic targets.
Background: The optimum management strategy after failure of revision anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (RACLR) is not clearly defined. The literature evaluating differences in outcomes between surgical and nonsurgical management is sparse.
Purpose/hypothesis: The purpose was to evaluate the outcomes of surgical versus nonsurgical management of failed first RACLR.
S100A8/A9, also known as "calprotectin" or "MRP8/14," is an alarmin primarily secreted by activated myeloid cells with antimicrobial, proinflammatory, and prothrombotic properties. Increased plasma levels of S100A8/A9 in thrombo-inflammatory diseases are associated with thrombotic complications. We assessed the presence of S100A8/A9 in the plasma and lung autopsies from patients with COVID-19 and investigated the molecular mechanism by which S100A8/A9 affects platelet function and thrombosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAntibodies specific for the spike glycoprotein (S) and nucleocapsid (N) SARS-CoV-2 proteins are typically present during severe COVID-19, and induced to S after vaccination. The binding of viral antigens by antibody can initiate the classical complement pathway. Since complement could play pathological or protective roles at distinct times during SARS-CoV-2 infection we determined levels of antibody-dependent complement activation along the complement cascade.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFC-type lectin-like receptor 2 (CLEC-2) is highly expressed on platelets and a subpopulation of myeloid cells, and is critical in lymphatic development. CLEC-2 has been shown to support thrombus formation at sites of inflammation, but to have a minor/negligible role in hemostasis. This identifies CLEC-2 as a promising therapeutic target in thromboinflammatory disorders, without hemostatic detriment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ISTH London 2022 Congress is the first held (mostly) face-to-face again since the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise in 2020. For 2 years we met virtually, but this year's in-person format will allow the ever-so-important and quintessential creativity and networking to flow again. What a pleasure and joy to be able to see everyone! Importantly, all conference proceedings are also streamed (and available recorded) online for those unable to travel on this occasion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc
January 2023
Aims: Thrombotic complications and vasculopathy have been extensively associated with severe COVID-19 infection; however, the mechanisms inducing endotheliitis and the disruption of endothelial integrity in the microcirculation are poorly understood. We hypothesized that within the vessel wall, pericytes preferentially take up viral particles and mediate the subsequent loss of vascular integrity.
Methods And Results: Immunofluorescence of post-mortem patient sections was used to assess pathophysiological aspects of COVID-19 infection.
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc
January 2023
Purpose: To investigate the relationship between glenoid width and other morphologic parameters using three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) images of native shoulders, and to create a new measurement tool to assess glenoid defects in a Canadian population with established anterior shoulder instability.
Methods: Forty-three glenoid CT scans were analyzed for patients who underwent contralateral shoulder glenoid reconstruction for anterior shoulder instability between 2012 and 2020. Demographic data were obtained including age, gender and BMI.