Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability. The only therapy available is recombinant tissue plasminogen activator, but side effects limit its use. Platelets play a crucial role during stroke, and the inflammatory reaction promotes neurodegeneration. von Willebrand factor (VWF), an adhesion molecule for platelets, is elevated in patients with acute stroke. The activity of VWF is modulated by ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin-like and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type I repeats-13) that cleaves VWF to smaller less-active forms. We recently documented that ADAMTS13 negatively regulates both thrombosis and inflammation. We report that deficiency or reduction of VWF reduces infarct volume up to 2-fold after focal cerebral ischemia in mice, thus showing the importance of VWF in stroke injury. In contrast, ADAMTS13 deficiency results in larger infarctions, but only in mice that have VWF. Importantly, infusion of a high dose of recombinant human ADAMTS13 into a wild-type mouse immediately before reperfusion reduces infarct volume and improves functional outcome without producing cerebral hemorrhage. IntroductionIschemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability around the world. Each year in the United States approximately 795 000 persons have a new or recurrent stroke. 1 Thrombolytic therapy with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which leads to fibrin degradation and promotes clot lysis, is beneficial for ischemic stroke. 2,3 However, tPA use is restricted to the first few hours after stroke. In addition, tPA may increase the incidence and severity of cerebral hemorrhage and edema formation. 2,3 Thus, there remains a clear need to identify new therapeutic agents for minimizing the effects of stroke. In addition to their effect on coagulation, such agents could also target platelet adhesion and the inflammatory process that follows ischemic stroke.von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a large multimeric glycoprotein that is important in platelet adhesion and thrombus formation. 4 At least in mice, VWF appears more important in arterial thrombosis than fibrin, 5 the substrate of tPA/plasmin. More recently, VWF was also shown to contribute to leukocyte adhesion and inflammatory cell recruitment. 6,7 VWF is stored in an ultra-large form (UL-VWF; Ͼ 20 million kDa) in platelet ␣-granules and Weibel-Palade bodies of endothelial cells from which it is released during injury or inflammation. 8,9 If not immediately consumed for platelet adhesion, the UL-VWF is cleaved by ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin-like and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type I repeats-13) to smaller less-adhesive multimers that circulate in plasma. ADAMTS13 is a metalloprotease of approximately 190 kDa 10 present in plasma at a concentration of 0.5 to1 g/mL in humans. 11 Ischemia is a potent inducer of Weibel-Palade body secretion, 12 thus making the infarct area highly thrombogenic even after thrombolysis.VWF deficiency is associated with the most common bleeding disorder in humans, von Willebrand disease. 13 In contrast, deficiency of ADAMTS13 is se...

First case of a human RASGRP2 mutation affecting Rap1 activation in platelets and causing severe bleeding.

No abstract

We report the largest international study on Glanzmann thrombasthenia (GT), an inherited bleeding disorder where defects of the ITGA2B and ITGB3 genes cause quantitative or qualitative defects of the αIIbβ3 integrin, a key mediator of platelet aggregation. Sequencing of the coding regions and splice sites of both genes in members of 76 affected families identified 78 genetic variants (55 novel) suspected to cause GT. Four large deletions or duplications were found by quantitative real-time PCR. Families with mutations in either gene were indistinguishable in terms of bleeding severity that varied even among siblings. Families were grouped into type I and the rarer type II or variant forms with residual αIIbβ3 expression. Variant forms helped identify genes encoding proteins mediating integrin activation. Splicing defects and stop codons were common for both ITGA2B and ITGB3 and essentially led to a reduced or absent αIIbβ3 expression; included was a heterozygous c.1440-13_c.1440-1del in intron 14 of ITGA2B causing exon skipping in seven unrelated families. Molecular modeling revealed how many missense mutations induced subtle changes in αIIb and β3 domain structure across both subunits, thereby interfering with integrin maturation and/or function. Our study extends knowledge of GT and the pathophysiology of an integrin.

Platelets undergo several modifications during storage that reduce their posttransfusion survival and functionality. One important feature of these changes, which are known as platelet storage lesion, is the shedding of the surface glycoproteins GPIb-␣ and GPV. We recently demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor-␣ converting enzyme (TACE/ADAM17) mediates mitochondrial injury-induced shedding of adhesion receptors and that TACE activity correlates with reduced posttransfusion survival of these cells. We now confirm that TACE mediates receptor shedding and clearance of platelets stored for 16 hours at 37°C or 22°C. We further demonstrate that both storage and mitochondrial injury lead to the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated kinase (MAPK) in platelets and that TACEmediated receptor shedding from mouse and human platelets requires p38 MAP kinase signaling. Protein kinase C, extracellular regulated-signal kinase MAPK, and caspases were not involved in TACE activation. Both inhibition of p38 MAPK and inactivation of TACE during platelet storage led to a markedly improved posttransfusion recovery and hemostatic function of platelets in mice. p38 MAPK inhibitors had only minor effects on the aggregation of fresh platelets under static or flow conditions in vitro. In summary, our data suggest that inhibition of p38 MAPK or TACE during storage may significantly improve the quality of stored platelets. (Blood.

No abstract

Variants in ETV6, which encodes a transcription repressor of the E26 transformation-specific family, have recently been reported to be responsible for inherited thrombocytopenia and hematologic malignancy. We sequenced the DNA from cases with unexplained dominant thrombocytopenia and identified six likely pathogenic variants in ETV6, of which five are novel. We observed low repressive activity of all tested ETV6 variants, and variants located in the E26 transformation-specific binding domain (encoding p.A377T, p.Y401N) led to reduced binding to corepressors. We also observed a large expansion of megakaryocyte colony-forming units derived from variant carriers and reduced proplatelet formation with abnormal cytoskeletal organization. The defect in proplatelet formation was also observed in control CD34 + cell-derived megakaryocytes transduced with lentiviral particles encoding mutant ETV6. Reduced expression levels of key regulators of the actin cytoskeleton CDC42 and RHOA were measured. Moreover, changes in the actin structures are typically accompanied by a rounder platelet shape with a highly heterogeneous size, decreased platelet arachidonic response, and spreading and retarded clot retraction in ETV6 deficient platelets. Elevated numbers of circulating CD34 + cells were found in p.P214L and p.Y401N carriers, and two patients from different families suffered from refractory anemia with excess blasts, while one patient from a third family was successfully treated for acute myeloid leukemia. Overall, our study provides novel insights into the role of ETV6 as a driver of cytoskeletal regulatory gene expression during platelet production, and the impact of variants resulting in platelets with altered size, shape and function and potentially also in changes in circulating progenitor levels.

Background: Phosphatidylserine-expressing platelets do not have active integrin ␣ IIb ␤ 3 but somehow retain fibrinogen. Results:The adhesive ␣-granule proteins fibrinogen and thrombospondin are concentrated in a fibrin polymerization-dependent "cap" on phosphatidylserine-expressing platelets that promotes their incorporation into thrombi. Conclusion:This suggests a revised model for the adhesive properties of phosphatidylserine-expressing platelets. Significance: The role of phosphatidylserine-expressing platelets in thrombus formation and its mechanism are re-evaluated.