1. Expression of Tissue Factor and Platelet/Leukocyte Markers on Extracellular Vesicles Reflect Platelet–Leukocyte Interaction in Severe COVID-19.
- Author
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Eichhorn, Tanja, Weiss, René, Huber, Silke, Ebeyer-Masotta, Marie, Mostageer, Marwa, Emprechtinger, Robert, Knabl Sr., Ludwig, Knabl, Ludwig, Würzner, Reinhard, and Weber, Viktoria
- Subjects
HIGH mobility group proteins ,EXTRACELLULAR vesicles ,VESICLES (Cytology) ,BLOOD platelets ,LEUCOCYTES ,ERYTHROCYTES ,JOINT hypermobility - Abstract
Severe COVID-19 is frequently associated with thromboembolic complications. Increased platelet activation and platelet–leukocyte aggregate formation can amplify thrombotic responses by inducing tissue factor (TF) expression on leukocytes. Here, we characterized TF-positive extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their cellular origin in 12 patients suffering from severe COVID-19 (time course, 134 samples overall) and 25 healthy controls. EVs exposing phosphatidylserine (PS) were characterized by flow cytometry. Their cellular origin was determined by staining with anti-CD41, anti-CD45, anti-CD235a, and anti-CD105 as platelet, leukocyte, red blood cell, and endothelial markers. We further investigated the association of EVs with TF, platelet factor 4 (PF4), C-reactive protein (CRP), and high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB-1). COVID-19 patients showed higher levels of PS-exposing EVs compared to controls. The majority of these EVs originated from platelets. A higher amount of EVs in patient samples was associated with CRP, HMGB-1, PF4, and TF as compared to EVs from healthy donors. In COVID-19 samples, 16.5% of all CD41
+ EVs displayed the leukocyte marker CD45, and 55.5% of all EV aggregates (CD41+ CD45+ ) co-expressed TF, which reflects the interaction of platelets and leukocytes in COVID-19 on an EV level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2023
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