Platelet microparticles: detection and assessment of their paradoxical functional roles in disease and regenerative medicine.
There is increasing research on and clinical interest in the physiological role played by platelet microparticles (PMPs). PMPs are 0.1-1-μm fragments shed from plasma membranes of platelets that are undergoing activation, stress, or apoptosis. They have a phospholipid-based structure and express functional receptors from platelet membranes. As they are the most abundant microparticles in the blood and they express the procoagulant phosphatidylserine, PMPs likely complement, if not amplify, the functions of platelets in hemostasis, thrombosis, cancer, and inflammation, but also act as promoters of tissue regeneration. Their size and structure make them instrumental in platelet-cell communications as a delivery tool of platelet-borne bioactive molecules including growth factors, other signaling molecules and micro (mi)RNA. PMPs can therefore be a pathophysiological threat or benefit to the cellular environment when interacting with the blood vasculature. There is also increasing evidence that PMP generation is triggered during blood collection, separation into components, and storage, a phenomenon potentially leading to thrombotic and inflammatory side effects in transfused patients. Evaluating PMPs requires strict pre-analytical and analytical procedures to avoid artifactual generation and ensure accurate assessment of the number, size repartitioning, and functional properties. This review describes the physical and functional methods developed for analyzing and quantifying PMPs. It then presents the functional roles of PMPs as markers or triggers of diseases like thrombosis, atherosclerosis, and cancer, and discusses the possible detrimental immunological impact of their generation in blood components. Finally we review the potential function of PMPs in tissue regeneration and the prospects for their use in therapeutic strategies for human health.
Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan. Electronic address: thburnouf@gmail.com.
Thierry
T
Burnouf
Saskatoon Cancer Centre and College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. Electronic address: hadi.goubranmessiha@saskcancer.ca.
Hadi Alphonse
HA
Goubran
Graduate Institute of Medical Science, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ming-Li
ML
Chou
Service de Pharmacologie Médicale, EA 1046, Faculté de Médecine de Lille, Service de Neurologie, CHRU de Lille, Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France.
David
D
Devos
Human Protein Process Sciences, Lille, France.
Mirjana
M
Radosevic
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000378:metabolism*; D055252:Cell-Derived Microparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D044968:Regenerative Medicine
D015415:Biomarkers
Blood transfusion; Detection; Microparticles; Pathology; Platelets; Regenerative medicine