In vitro interaction of the pentasaccharide idraparinux (SanOrg 34006) with unfractionated heparin.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to I Gouin-Thibault.
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The activated protein C (APC) resistance phenotype associated with an abnormal factor V Leiden (FVL), and the G20210A prothrombin gene mutation are the most common findings in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE). In a group of 210 patients, we compared the levels of markers of coagulation activation in carriers of FVL (71 heterozygous, 30 homozygous), G20210A prothrombin mutation (88 heterozygous) or both mutations combined (21 heterozygous), in order to assess whether these markers allow identification of a group of patients with a higher risk of thrombosis; they were also compared to normal values. A total of 143 patients had a personal history of VTE and 67 were asymptomatic. None of them had other hereditary causes of thrombophilia or an antiphospholipid syndrome. None were currently treated with either anticoagulant or hormonal treatment. Pregnant women were excluded. No significant difference between the four groups of patients could be found in the levels of F1+2, TAT and DDI. Levels were all significantly higher than the control values (p<0.05). The levels of F1+2 and TAT were similar in patients with or without a history of VTE, regardless of the type of mutation. DDI levels were significantly higher in patients with a history of VTE than in asymptomatic subjects (443+/-248 vs. 333+/-222 ng/ml, p=0.02) but with only 57% sensitivity and specificity. In conclusion, our study confirms the hypercoagulable state found in mutation carriers and points out the inability of F1+2 and TAT assays to identify a group of subjects at higher risk of thrombosis, within carriers of genetic risk factors. Although the sensitivity and specificity of DDI assay are low, high DDI concentrations tend to be associated with the risk of VTE.
Thrombosis and disseminated intravascular coagulation are common complications of cancer. Specific conditions associated with cancer such as stasis due to immobilization or blood flow obstruction, surgery, infections, endothelium damage due to chemotherapeutic agents and abnormalities of blood coagulation contribute to the hypercoagulable and thrombophilic state of cancer patients. This procoagulant state in cancer arises mostly from the capacity of tumor cells to express and release procoagulant activities (cancer procoagulant and tissue factor). Decreased levels of inhibitors of coagulation, impaired fibrinolysis, the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies and an acquired activated protein C resistance contribute to the hypercoagulable state. The activation of coagulation is also implicated in tumor proliferation through interactions of coagulation with inflammation and increased tissue factor pathway inhibitor. Laboratory diagnosis of the thrombophilic state include (1) elevation of clotting factors, fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products, hyperfibrinogenemia and thrombocytosis and (2) elevation of specific markers of activation of coagulation: fibrinopeptide A, fragment 1 + 2, thrombin-antithrombin complexes and D-dimers. However, none of the tests has any predictive value for the occurrence of thrombotic events in one individual patient. In patients with venous thromboembolism a noninvasive screening for occult cancer is able to detect a relatively high incidence of hidden cancer and the search for thrombophilia seems important in patients without known cancer.
BACKGROUND: Thrombopoietin (TPO), the major hormone controlling platelet production, has been measured in thrombocytopenias with discordant results. The aim of our work was to assess the value of the TPO assay for differential diagnosis of thrombocytopenias in a large cohort of patients classified according to the results of their platelet isotopic study. METHODS: We measured TPO (R&D Systems) in serum of 160 thrombocytopenic patients referred to our department for platelet life span isotopic studies. We classified patients as follows: (a) idiopathic or autoimmune thrombocytopenia group (ITP; patients with increased platelet destruction and shortened platelet life span; n = 67); (b) pure genetic thrombocytopenia group (patients with decreased platelet production, normal platelet life span, and without bone marrow aplasia; n = 55); (c) bone marrow aplasia group (BM; patients with decreased platelet production, normal platelet life span, and bone marrow aplasia; n = 13). RESULTS: In patients with pure genetic thrombocytopenia, TPO (median, 55 ng/L) was not different from TPO in patients with ITP (median, 58 ng/L) or controls (n = 54; median, 51 ng/L). Only in patients with bone marrow aplasia was TPO significantly higher (median, 155 ng/L) and negatively correlated to the platelet count (r(2) = 0.5014). CONCLUSIONS: Although the median serum TPO is increased in thrombocytopenia with decreased platelet production from bone marrow aplasia, it does not differentiate patients with pure genetic thrombocytopenia from those with ITP.
Perturbations of coagulation in cancer patients have been described for a long time. In up to 90% of cancer patients "routine" blood tests are abnormal leading to a hypercoagulable state in these patients. Among these tests are an increase in clotting factors, fibrinogen, fibrinogen/fibrin degradation products, and thrombocytosis. Markers of the activation of coagulation have been developed, and levels of FPA, F1+2, TAT, and D-Dimer have been found higher in cancer patients. More specific procoagulant activities in cancer (CP and TF) have also been described and can be measured but none of them have any predictive value for the occurrence of venous thromboembolism in these patients. Consistent with this hypercoagulable state in cancer is the finding that most cancer patients have reduced plasma levels of inhibitors of coagulation. These complex abnormalities are clinically expressed as thrombosis, low-grade or fulminant DIC which can be assessed by different laboratory tests, and as hemorrhage when the fibrinolysis system is impaired. However, no studies have shown to date a relationship between these abnormalities of the coagulation tests and the clinical expression in any single individual. Because these patients are at high risk for thrombosis in special conditions such as surgery or during chemotherapy, prophylaxis with various forms of heparin are recommended.
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Given that factor VIIa-tissue factor (TF) probably initiates coagulation in vivo, this study investigated the relationship between plasma concentrations of factor VIIa and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 in plasma (the latter as an index of prothrombinase activity in vivo). The relationships between these two parameters and the concentrations of tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI) and factor Xa-TFPI in plasma were also investigated. TFPI inactivates factor Xa in a reaction accelerated by heparin, whereas factor Xa-TFPI inactivates factor VIIa-TF and prothrombinase. Established enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were used to quantify TFPI and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2, whereas we developed an ELISA to quantify factor Xa-TFPI using affinity purified rabbit (anti-human TFPI)-IgG and chicken anti-(human factor Xa-TFPI)-IgY as the capture and detector antibodies, respectively. Plasma factor VIIa was quantified using truncated tissue factor. The concentrations of factor VIIa and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 increased in parallel in the plasmas of up to 145 healthy adults assayed (P = 0.007), as did the concentrations of factor VIIa and TFPI (P = 0.0039), and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 and TFPI (P = 0.013). In contrast, there was an inverse relationship between the concentrations of free factor Xa-TFPI and factor VIIa (P < 0.0001) and free factor Xa-TFPI and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (P = 0.0095). These results are consistent with factor Xa-TFPI regulating factor VIIa-tissue factor and prothrombinase in vivo.
Studies on the pharmacological and pharmacodynamic properties of heparins are complicated by the heterogeneity of heparin preparations. It is important to consider the molecular weight distribution, which may differ from one preparation to another. Molecules with a molecular weight ranging from about 2000 to 5000D are abundant in low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs), while they are present at a very low concentration in standard heparin. The clinical relevance of this difference is not fully understood. Recent work from our laboratory demonstrates that factor VII activation to factor VIIa in vitro is significantly inhibited by heparins. This is another aspect of some importance in understanding the mechanism of action of heparins. The bioavailability and plasma clearance of anti-Xa activity are well documented. In contrast, clear results regarding the bioavailability of anti-IIa activity are still missing. Recent data indicate that the anti-Xa activity of different molecules of heparin does not increase in parallel with the molecular weight of the heparin chain. In contrast, the anti-IIa activity of different molecules of heparin increases in parallel with the molecular weight. This could explain why activated partial-thromboplastin time is less prolonged with LMWHs than with standard heparin. There is growing evidence that anti-Xa activity contributes to the antithrombotic effect of heparins, although it is generally accepted that anti-IIa activity plays a major role. There have been 3 important findings from recent work on the pharmacology of heparins: i) heparin at a very low dose has thrombopoietic activity; ii) in hip surgery, the incidence of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia is significantly lower in patients receiving subcutaneous LMWHs for 2 weeks compared with patients receiving unfractionated heparin; and iii) the risk of osteoporosis with long term treatment with LMWHs seems lower than with standard heparin.
The M(r) of the complexes formed when factor Xa reacts with antithrombin III (ATIII) in plasma were estimated by gel filtration and SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis. The predominant species of factor Xa-ATIII detected after plasma and plasma to which factor Xa had been added were gel filtered on Sephadex G-200 and Sepharose 4B had apparent M(r) > 200,000, in which factor Xa-ATIII was associated with vitronectin. Addition of factor Xa-ATIII to ATIII-depleted plasma also resulted in the formation of factor Xa-ATIII-vitronectin complexes with M(r) > 200,000. Using polyclonal antibodies to human factor Xa-ATIII and ATIII as the capture and detector antibodies, respectively, a sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed to quantify factor Xa-ATIII in plasma. The relationship between factor Xa-ATIII production and prothrombinase activity in vivo was investigated by quantifying factor Xa-ATIII and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 endogenous to the plasmas of blood donors and patients with Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Whereas the concentrations of prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 in the 84 normal plasmas increased with age, those of factor Xa-ATIII (mean +/- SD of 34.7 +/- 13.8 pM) did not, and no correlation existed between the concentrations of the two parameters in normal plasmas. In contrast, a highly significant correlation between the concentrations of these two parameters was found in the plasmas of the cancer patients which coincidentally also had higher concentrations of both factor Xa-ATIII and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 than the normal plasmas. Thus, ATIII may differentially influence prothrombinase formation and activity in normal individuals and cancer patients.
We report a case of primary plasma cell leukaemia, with an absolute count of plasma cells of 53 Giga/L, diagnosed in a 83-year-old woman. The patient's condition improved, with no circulating plasma cells after 3 weeks of treatment, in response to the combination of thalidomide and dexamethasone administered for 5 days followed by thalidomide alone. The clinical presentation, the morphological, flow cytometric and pathophysiological characteristics of the plasma cell leukaemia and the treatment are summarised in this paper.
Elderly patients are at high risk of over-anticoagulation and of haemorrhagic risk when on warfarin, especially during treatment induction. In Charles Foix Hospital, a 800-bed geriatric hospital, we specifically developed for in-patients older than 70 years (target INR 2.5) a simple low-dose warfarin induction regimen. The dosing recommendations were summarized on a prescribing guidance pocket chart. Eighteen months after the distribution of the chart, we conducted a one-year observational study in order to evaluate: i/ the time needed to achieve the warfarin maintenance dose; ii/ the prescriber'adherence to the recommendations; iii/ the benefit for elderly patients receiving warfarin therapy. The mean time needed to achieve the warfarin maintenance dose was 12.3 +/- 7.0 days for the 89 patients included in the study: 10.6 +/- 5.9 days for the 30 patients whose prescribers followed the recommendations versus 13.5 +/- 7.6 days for the 59 patients whose prescribers did not follow the recommendations. There is a trend to a more frequent over-anticoagulation in patients whose prescribers did not follow the recommendations. The duration of the heparin-warfarin overlap was significantly shorter when the recommendations were followed. Finally, the reasons for non-adherence to the recommendations were analyzed. This study illustrates an assessment of practice in an health care institution.