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CLINICAL RESEARCH: ACUTE CORONARY SYNDROME

Thrombopoietin Contributes to Enhanced Platelet Activation in Patients With Unstable Angina

Enrico Lupia, MD^_*, Ornella Bosco, PhD, Serena Bergerone, MD, Anna Erna Dondi, MD, Alberto Goffi, MD, Elena Oliaro, MD, Marco Cordero, MD, Lorenzo Del Sorbo, MD, Giampaolo Trevi, MD and Giuseppe Montrucchio, MD^,_*

^_* Azienda Ospedaliera San Giovanni Battista-Molinette, Turin, Italy
Department of Clinical Pathophysiology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

Manuscript received January 24, 2006; revised manuscript received April 14, 2006, accepted April 17, 2006.

^_* Reprint requests and correspondence: Prof. Giuseppe Montrucchio, Dipartimento di Fisiopatologia Clinica, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Genova 3, 10126 Torino, Italy. (Email: giuseppe.montrucchio{at}unito.it).

OBJECTIVES: We sought to investigate the potential role of elevated levels of thrombopoietin (TPO) in platelet activation during unstable angina (UA).

BACKGROUND: Thrombopoietin is a humoral growth factor that does not induce platelet aggregation per se, but primes platelet activation in response to several agonists. No data concerning its contribution to platelet function abnormalities described in patients with UA are available.

METHODS: We studied 15 patients with UA and, as controls, 15 patients with stable angina (SA) and 15 healthy subjects. We measured TPO and C-reactive protein (CRP), as well as monocyte-platelet binding and the platelet expression of P-selectin and of the TPO receptor, c-Mpl. The priming activity of patient or control plasma on platelet aggregation and monocyte-platelet binding and the role of TPO in this effect also were studied.

RESULTS: Patients with UA showed higher circulating TPO levels, as well as increased monocyte-platelet binding, platelet P-selectin expression, and CRP levels, than those with SA and healthy control subjects. The UA patients also showed reduced platelet expression of the TPO receptor, c-Mpl. In vitro, the plasma from UA patients, but not from SA patients or healthy controls, primed platelet aggregation and monocyte-platelet binding, which were both reduced when an inhibitor of TPO was used.

CONCLUSIONS: Thrombopoietin may enhance platelet activation in the early phases of UA, potentially participating in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes.

Abbreviations and Acronyms   ADP = adenosine 5'-diphosphate   CRP = C-reactive protein   EPI = epinephrine   PI = priming index   PRP = platelet-rich plasma   rhTPO = recombinant human thrombopoietin   SA = stable angina   TPO = thrombopoietin   TPOR = thrombopoietin receptor   UA = unstable angina

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