Glycoproteins Ib and IIb/IIIa in the quality assessment of platelet concentrates during storage

We have previously shown that levels of soluble glycocalicin (GC) in plasma supernatants derived from units of platelet concentrates (PC) increase progressively during storage. We now report further studies which show that the levels of both microparticle-bound and soluble GC in PC during storage are influenced by exposure of PC samples to EDTA and treatment of PC packs with ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiation. EDTA leads to a significant increase in the release of microvesicle-bound and soluble GC, while UVB irradiation leads to a dose- and rate-dependent increase in GC release. Paradoxically, UVB leads to an unexpected decrease in supernatant levels of von Willebrand factor (vWf) during storage which contrasts with its increase in untreated, stored PC. Moreover, an increase in GC release during storage is associated with a corresponding decrease in platelet size as determined by measurement of mean platelet volume (MPV) in citrated PC. The GC release is significantly correlated with standard platelet functional tests and other new generation tests such as dMPV and supernatant levels of vWf. In addition, preliminary results show the presence of microparticle-bound and soluble glycoprotein (Gp) IIb/IIIa in the supernatant plasma of stored PC. Our results suggest that supernatant levels of GpIb, GpIIb/IIIa, and vWf, together with alteration in MPV, provide essential new informative parameters for quality assessment of PC.