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Comprehensive Analysis of Procoagulant Platelets Exhibiting Features of Necrosis, Apoptosis and Platelet Activation
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Activated platelets and atherosclerosis

Pål Aukrust1, Bente Halvorsen, Thor Ueland

  • 1Research Institute for Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, N-0027 Oslo, Norway. pal.aukrust@rikshospiatlet.no

Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy
|September 11, 2010
PubMed

Several studies suggest an important role for platelets in atherogenesis, not only as mediators of thrombus formation, but also as inducers of inflammation. Several lines of evidence indicate that platelets are potent inflammatory cells that induce inflammatory responses in adjacent cells such as leukocytes and endothelial cells. Platelets may also themselves respond to inflammatory mediators produced by these neighboring cells. These platelet-mediated inflammatory pathways contribute to atherogenesis in both the early and late stage of the process. The bidirectional interaction between platelets and other cells may also be involved in the nonresolving inflammation characterizing atherosclerosis. In patients with atherosclerotic disorders, platelet-mediated inflammation appears to be operating in spite of the wide use of platelet-inhibiting drugs. This underscores the need for new therapeutic tools that more specifically target the pathways in platelet-mediated inflammation.

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