Mechanisms of Platelet Activity in Vascular Disease

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
An estimated 15–20 million people in the United States have peripheral artery disease (PAD). Despite
advances in medical therapy, PAD remains associated with considerable cardiac and limb morbidity and
mortality. Currently, more invasive procedures are performed in the lower extremities than in the heart,
demonstrating increasing costs to the system of advanced PAD. Although the pathogenesis of coronary artery
disease (CAD) is well characterized, the pathophysiology of PAD is less understood and the mechanism(s)
that regulate this complex disorder remain uncertain. While antiplatelet therapy (as a class effect) decreases
the incidence and complications from PAD, we noted that the effectiveness of antiplatelet therapy differs
between PAD and other vascular phenotypes. In contrast to CAD, aspirin was not particularly effective in PAD
nor was there clinical benefit with more potent P2Y12 inhibition. Clearly, new directions are needed to better
understand the role of platelets in PAD pathogenesis and identify new therapeutic targets. Our group
demonstrated the importance in coding and noncoding RNAs in regulating platelet activity. Leveraging our
established cohort of PAD patients with well-phenotyped platelet activities, we demonstrated the importance of
platelet–leukocyte interactions (in contrast to platelet–platelet aggregation) in the pathogenesis of PAD.
Moreover, we identified an aberrant post-transcriptional regulation of platelets in PAD and demonstrated that
platelets play a central effector role in activating monocytes and fostering inflammation in PAD. Here, we
propose to comprehensively investigate the relationship between (1) platelet activity, (2) the platelet
transcriptome, and (3) effector cell properties in patients with PAD. We will analyze stored platelet samples
from >1,000 patients with longitudinal follow-up, many of whom provided serial collections. Leveraging these
valuable platelet samples, we will focus on identifying novel platelet transcripts associated with vascular
phenotypes and incident cardiovascular events. For example, we will compare patients with (1) PAD vs. other
vascular phenotypes (e.g., CAD, carotid artery stenosis, abdominal aortic aneurysm), (2) stable PAD vs. CLI,
and (3) incident cardiac (myocardial infarction) vs. limb (major amputation) events. Mechanistic studies using
both cultured megakaryocytes and animal models with platelet-specific knock-in and knock-out of candidate
genes will characterize how these processes are regulated. We are also well positioned to validate our findings
in well-established local, national, and international cohorts. Our data suggest these types of studies can
provide conceptual advances in our understanding of the mechanisms influencing the pathogenesis and
severity of PAD. These insights could be leveraged to design clinical biomarkers and therapeutic strategies to
treat and prevent vascular disease and its life-threatening complications.

Grant Number: 5R35HL144993-07
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Berger