Platelets News and Research

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Blocking critical molecule with therapeutic antibody could effectively reduce leukemia burden

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive cancer known for drug resistance and relapse. In an effort to uncover new treatment strategies, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center discovered that a cell surface molecule known as CD98 promotes AML.

27 Oct 2016

Scientists modify structure of cancer drug to enhance ability to pass through blood-brain barrier

In efforts to develop new treatments for brain cancer, scientists from Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery and the Kimmel Cancer Center's Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy report they have altered the structure of an experimental drug that seems to enhance its ability to slip through the mostly impermeable blood-brain barrier.

20 Oct 2016

Study finds blood thinning drugs derived from cattle and pigs have equivalent anti-clotting properties

As demand for the widely used blood thinning drug heparin continues to grow, experts worry of possible shortages of the essential medication.

6 Oct 2016

Scientists use novel theranostics technique for early thromboembolism diagnosis and treatment

Researchers from the University of Arkansas for Medical Science (USA), in collaboration with University Hospital Frankfurt and University Hospital Dresden, under the supervision of Prof. Vladimir Zharov and with the participation of Alexander Melerzanov, the dean of Department of Biological and Medical Physics (MIPT), conducted experiments on mice to detect blood clotting using photoacoustic flow-cytometry.

21 Sep 2016

Interactions between tumor cells and platelets could lead to cancer metastasis

Metastasis of cancer cells to sites distant from the primary tumor is the leading cause of cancer-related death, and there is growing evidence that platelets aid the dissemination of cancer cells.

9 Sep 2016

New molecular mechanism may explain pain relieving drug’s diverse benefits

Aspirin's ability to reduce the risk of both cardiovascular disease and colon cancer has been a welcome, yet puzzling, attribute of the pain reliever that has been a mainstay in medicine cabinets for more than 100 years.

7 Sep 2016

Research opens door to reveal how platelets sense mechanical forces to initiate blood clotting

Using a unique single-molecule force measurement tool, a research team has developed a clearer understanding of how platelets sense the mechanical forces they encounter during bleeding to initiate the cascading process that leads to blood clotting.

17 Aug 2016

Male hormones can reverse biological drivers of aging, study shows

Telomerase, an enzyme naturally found in the human organism, is the closest of all known substances to a "cellular elixir of youth." In a recent study, Brazilian and US researchers show that sex hormones can stimulate production of this enzyme.

26 Jul 2016

Bone marrow transplantation may one day be beneficial to subset of ALS, say researchers

Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers at Harvard University and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have found evidence that bone marrow transplantation may one day be beneficial to a subset of patients suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurodegenerative disorder more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

18 Jul 2016

Study identifies new blood markers to accurately diagnose Gulf War Illness

Based on a study of 85 Gulf War veterans, Veterans Affairs researchers in Minneapolis have developed a tentative panel of blood markers they say can verify a diagnosis of Gulf War Illness with 90 percent accuracy.

11 Jul 2016

Alnylam reports new results from investigational RNAi therapeutic programs

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today preliminary results from its ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension (OLE) studies with patisiran and revusiran, both investigational RNAi therapeutics targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of hereditary TTR-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis).

6 Jul 2016

WHO urges all countries to establish blood services based on voluntary non-remunerated blood donations

Voluntary, unpaid blood donations must be increased rapidly in more than half the world’s countries in order to ensure a reliable supply of safe blood for patients whose lives depend on it, the World Health Organization said on World Blood Donor Day.

14 Jun 2016

Discovery on new form ETV6-related thrombocytopenia presented at EHA Annual Congress

We recently discovered a new form of an inherited deficiency of platelets, which is caused by mutations in the ETV6-gene.

13 Jun 2016

Mice study shows heart medication helps reduce build-up of plaque in brain's blood vessels

A new study from örebro University, published in Science Signaling today, shows that heart medication reduces the build-up of plaque in the brain's blood vessels in mice. The question is if this is true also in humans? If the answer is yes, it might bring scientists a step closer to developing a medicine against Alzheimer's disease.

25 May 2016

New technique to grow blood vessels could accelerate growth of regenerative medicine

In addition the technique to grow the blood vessels in a 3D scaffold cuts down on the risk of transplant rejection because it uses cells from the patient. It was developed by researchers from the University of Bath's Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, working with colleagues at Bristol Heart Institute.

25 May 2016

Increased fitness can normalize platelet function quickly

Women with poor physical fitness display significantly higher platelet activation than women with average to very good fitness. That is the major finding of a study of 62 young women, conducted by the research groups of Ivo Volf and Rochus Pokan and sponsored by the Austrian Heart Foundation. Platelet (thrombocyte) activation can lead to the formation of potentially life-threatening blood clots.

3 May 2016

Understanding how individuals respond to aspirin

Researchers have learned new information about how different people respond to aspirin, a globally prescribed drug in cardioprotection. The research team, led by scientists at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom and including representatives from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Colorado, identified more than 5,600 lipids — or fats — in blood platelets and gained new insights into how these cells respond to aspirin.

29 Apr 2016

New blood treatment technology could reduce malaria risk following blood transfusions

Patients, especially children, who undergo blood transfusions in sub-Saharan Africa are at high risk of transfusion-transmitted malaria. A new trial, published in The Lancet today, suggests that treating donated blood with a new technology that combines UV radiation and vitamin B is safe and could minimise the risk of malaria infection following blood transfusions.

26 Apr 2016

Study shows safety of experimental drug guadecitabine in colorectal cancer patients

In a small, phase I clinical trial, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers say they show for the first time that the experimental drug guadecitabine (SGI-110) is safe in combination with the chemotherapy drug irinotecan and may overcome resistance to irinotecan in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

18 Apr 2016

Magnesium could be safe, cost-effective therapeutic intervention for genetic coagulation disorder

An international team of scientists was able to demonstrate in mouse and patient studies, how magnesium affects the production of blood platelets and that the TRPM7 channel function plays a key role in this process. Scientists of the Rudolf Virchow Center and the Hospital of the University of Würzburg were primarily involved in this study. Their results were published in the current journal "Nature Communications".

4 Apr 2016