Personalizing the Use of Circulating Microparticle-Associated Tissue Factor As a Biomarker for Recurrent Thrombosis in Patients With Cancer

Low-Grade Activation of the Extrinsic Coagulation Pathway in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

BACKGROUND

Ulcerative colitis (UC) increases the risk for venous thromboembolism. Tissue factor (TF) initiates the extrinsic coagulation pathway (ECP).

AIMS

To investigate the correlation of UC severity with latent ECP activation and TF expression in primary colonic stromal cells (PCSC).

METHODS

In plasma of 38 UC patients (31 males, disease duration 151 ± 25 months) and 28 healthy controls, exosomes and microparticles (EM) were counted. Moreover, TF protein concentration, activities of EM-bound TF (EM-TFa) and coagulation factor VII (FVIIa) were assessed. In PCSC in culture, TF mRNA (F3) from 12 patients with active UC and 7 controls was evaluated.

RESULTS

UC patients had 4- and 3.7- times more exosomes and microparticles, respectively, than controls. TF protein in UC was correlated with several disease severity indices, such as partial Mayo score (pMs; r 0.443), albumin (- 0.362), ESR (0.353), PLT (0.575), and endoscopic Ms (eMs 0.468). EM-TFa was also significantly higher in UC and was correlated to SIBDQ (- 0.64), albumin (- 0.624), disease extent and eMs (0.422). Refractory-to-treatment patients had significantly higher TF protein, EM-TFa and FVIIa. Even within responders, the need for steroids or biologics correlated with a 2.2-times higher EM-TFa. PCSC from active UC maintained higher F3 than controls, which was correlated to pMs (0.56), albumin (- 0.543) and eMs. Treatment with cytokines further upregulated F3. P for all comparisons was < 0.05.

CONCLUSION

Low-grade activation of the ECP associates with clinical, endoscopic UC activity and response to treatment. TF in PCSC mirrors its systemic activity and points to them as a source.

Contribution of FOS in neutrophils to venous thromboembolism via miR-144 based on bioinformatic prediction and validation

The Finkel-Biskis-Jinkins Osteosarcoma (c-Fos; encoded by FOS) plays an important role in several cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis and stroke. However, the relationship between FOS and venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains unknown. We identified differentially expressed genes in Gene Expression Omnibus dataset, GSE48000, comprising VTE patients and healthy individuals, and analysed them using CIBERSORT and weighted co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). FOS and CD46 expressions were significantly downregulated (FOS p = 2.26E-05, CD64 p = 8.83E-05) and strongly linked to neutrophil activity in VTE. We used GSE19151 and performed PCR to confirm that FOS and CD46 had diagnostic potential for VTE; however, only FOS showed differential expression by PCR and ELISA in whole blood samples. Moreover, we found that hsa-miR-144 which regulates FOS expression was significantly upregulated in VTE. Furthermore, FOS expression was significantly downregulated in neutrophils of VTE patients (p = 0.03). RNA sequencing performed on whole blood samples of VTE patients showed that FOS exerted its effects in VTE via the leptin-mediated adipokine signalling pathway. Our results suggest that FOS and related genes or proteins can outperform traditional clinical markers and may be used as diagnostic biomarkers for VTE.

Tissue factor: a neglected role in cancer biology

Tissue factor (TF), an initiator of extrinsic coagulation pathway, is positively correlated with venous thromboembolism (VTE) of tumor patients. Beyond thrombosis, TF plays a vital role in tumor progression. TF is highly expressed in cancer tissues and circulating tumor cell (CTC), and activates factor VIIa (FVIIa), which increases tumor cells proliferation, angiogenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells(CSCs) activity. Furthermore, TF and TF-positive microvesicles (TF⁺MVs) activate the coagulation system to promote the clots formation with non-tumor cell components (e.g., platelets, leukocytes, fibrin), which makes tumor cells adhere to clots to form CTC clusters. Then, tumor cells utilize clots to cause its reducing fluid shear stress (FSS), anoikis resistance, immune escape, adhesion, extravasation and colonization. Herein, we review in detail that how TF signaling promotes tumor metastasis, and how TF-targeted therapeutic strategies are being in the preclinical and clinical trials.