Plasma procoagulant phospholipid clotting time and venous thromboembolism risk.

Background: Negatively charged procoagulant phospholipids, phosphatidylserine (PS) in particular, are vital to coagulation and expressed on the surface membrane of extracellular vesicles. No previous study has investigated the association between plasma procoagulant phospholipid clotting time (PPL) and future risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE).

Objectives: To investigate the association between plasma PPL and the risk of incident VTE in a nested case-control study.

A modified clot-based assay to measure negatively charged procoagulant phospholipids.

Growing evidence supports a role for extracellular vesicles (EVs) in haemostasis and thrombosis due to exposure of negatively charged procoagulant phospholipids (PPL). Current commercial PPL-dependent clotting assays use chemically phospholipid depleted plasma to measure PPL activity. The purpose of our study was to modify the PPL assay by substituting the chemically phospholipid depleted plasma with PPL depleted plasma obtained by ultracentrifugation This in order to get readily access to a sensitive and reliable assay to measure PPL activity in human plasma and cell supernatants.

Impact of preanalytical conditions on plasma concentration and size distribution of extracellular vesicles using Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis.

Optimal pre-analytical handling is essential for valid measurements of plasma concentration and size distribution of extracellular vesicles (EVs). We investigated the impact of plasma preparation, various anticoagulants (Citrate, EDTA, CTAD, Heparin), and fasting status on concentration and size distribution of EVs measured by Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA). Blood was drawn from 10 healthy volunteers to investigate the impact of plasma preparation and anticoagulants, and from 40 individuals from a population-based study to investigate the impact of postprandial lipidemia.

A novel role of bone morphogenetic protein-7 in the regulation of adhesion and migration of human monocytic cells.

Background: Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 7 is abundant in atherosclerotic plaques and increases monocyte pro-coagulant activity by enhancing tissue factor (TF) expression. While several members of the BMP superfamily are able to serve as chemotactic agents for monocytes, the role of BMP-7 in regulation of monocyte motility is not known.

Aims: To assess the effect of BMP-7 on adhesive and migratory properties of human monocytes.

Antibody-based targeting of alternatively spliced tissue factor: a new approach to impede the primary growth and spread of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Alternatively spliced Tissue Factor (asTF) is a secreted form of Tissue Factor (TF), the trigger of blood coagulation whose expression levels are heightened in several forms of solid cancer, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). asTF binds to β1 integrins on PDAC cells, whereby it promotes tumor growth, metastatic spread, and monocyte recruitment to the stroma. In this study, we determined if targeting asTF in PDAC would significantly impact tumor progression.