van den Berg J, Haslbauer JD, Stalder AK, Romanens A, Mertz KD, Studt JD, Siegemund M, Buser A, Holbro A, Tzankov A. Von Willebrand factor and the thrombophilia of severe COVID-19:
in situ evidence from autopsies.
Res Pract Thromb Haemost 2023;
7:100182. [PMID:
37333991 PMCID:
PMC10192064 DOI:
10.1016/j.rpth.2023.100182]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 04/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Background
COVID-19 is accompanied by a hypercoagulable state and characterized by microvascular and macrovascular thrombotic complications. In plasma samples from patients with COVID-19, von Willebrand factor (VWF) levels are highly elevated and predictive of adverse outcomes, especially mortality. Yet, VWF is usually not included in routine coagulation analyses, and histologic evidence of its involvement in thrombus formation is lacking.
Objectives
To determine whether VWF, an acute-phase protein, is a bystander, ie, a biomarker of endothelial dysfunction, or a causal factor in the pathogenesis of COVID-19.
Methods
We compared autopsy samples from 28 patients with lethal COVID-19 to those from matched controls and systematically assessed for VWF and platelets by immunohistochemistry. The control group comprised 24 lungs, 23 lymph nodes, and 9 hearts and did not differ significantly from the COVID-19 group in age, sex, body mass index (BMI), blood group, or anticoagulant use.
Results
In lungs, assessed for platelets by immunohistochemistry for CD42b, microthrombi were more frequent in patients with COVID-19 (10/28 [36%] vs 2/24 [8%]; P = .02). A completely normal pattern of VWF was rare in both groups. Accentuated endothelial staining was found in controls, while VWF-rich thrombi were only found in patients with COVID-19 (11/28 [39%] vs 0/24 [0%], respectively; P < .01), as were NETosis thrombi enriched with VWF (7/28 [25%] vs 0/24 [0%], respectively; P < .01). Forty-six percent of the patients with COVID-19 had VWF-rich thrombi, NETosis thrombi, or both. Trends were also seen in pulmonary draining lymph nodes (7/20 [35%] vs 4/24 [17%]; P = .147), where the overall presence of VWF was very high.
Conclusion
We provide in situ evidence of VWF-rich thrombi, likely attributable to COVID-19, and suggest that VWF may be a therapeutic target in severe COVID-19.
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