Proteomics in thrombosis research

Identifying novel biomarkers using proteomics to predict cancer-associated thrombosis

Comprehensive protein analyses of plasma are made possible by high-throughput proteomic screens, which may help find new therapeutic targets and diagnostic biomarkers. Patients with cancer are frequently affected by venous thromboembolism (VTE). The limited predictive accuracy of current VTE risk assessment tools highlights the need for new, more targeted biomarkers. Although coagulation biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of VTE have been investigated, none of them have the necessary clinical validation or diagnostic accuracy. Proteomics holds the potential to uncover new biomarkers and thrombotic pathways that impact the risk of thrombosis. This review explores the fundamental methods used in proteomics and focuses on particular biomarkers found in VTE and cancer-associated thrombosis.

Overall haemostatic potential assay for prediction of outcomes in venous and arterial thrombosis and thrombo-inflammatory diseases

Thromboembolic diseases including arterial and venous thrombosis are common causes of morbidity and mortality globally. Thrombosis frequently recurs and can also complicate many inflammatory conditions through the process of 'thrombo-inflammation,' as evidenced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current candidate biomarkers for thrombosis prediction, such as D-dimer, have poor predictive efficacy. This limits our capacity to tailor anticoagulation duration individually and may expose lower risk individuals to undue bleeding risk. Global coagulation assays, such as the Overall Haemostatic Potential (OHP) assay, that investigate fibrin generation and fibrinolysis, may provide a more accurate and functional assessment of hypercoagulability. We present a review of fibrin's critical role as a central modulator of thrombotic risk. The results of our studies demonstrating the OHP assay as a predictive biomarker in venous thromboembolism, chronic renal disease, diabetes mellitus, post-thrombotic syndrome, and COVID-19 are discussed. As a comprehensive and global measurement of fibrin generation and fibrinolytic capacity, the OHP assay may be a valuable addition to future multi-modal predictive tools in thrombosis.

Oncogenes and cancer associated thrombosis: what can we learn from single cell genomics about risks and mechanisms?

Single cell analysis of cancer cell transcriptome may shed a completely new light on cancer-associated thrombosis (CAT). CAT causes morbid, and sometimes lethal complications in certain human cancers known to be associated with high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), pulmonary embolism (PE) or arterial thromboembolism (ATE), all of which worsen patients' prognosis. How active cancers drive these processes has long evaded scrutiny. While "unspecific" microenvironmental effects and consequences of patient care (e.g., chemotherapy) have been implicated in pathogenesis of CAT, it has also been suggested that oncogenic pathways driven by either genetic (mutations), or epigenetic (methylation) events may influence the coagulant phenotype of cancer cells and stroma, and thereby modulate the VTE/PE risk. Consequently, the spectrum of driver events and their downstream effector mechanisms may, to some extent, explain the heterogeneity of CAT manifestations between cancer types, molecular subtypes, and individual cases, with thrombosis-promoting, or -protective mutations. Understanding this molecular causation is important if rationally designed countermeasures were to be deployed to mitigate the clinical impact of CAT in individual cancer patients. In this regard, multi-omic analysis of human cancers, especially at a single cell level, has brought a new meaning to concepts of cellular heterogeneity, plasticity, and multicellular complexity of the tumour microenvironment, with profound and still relatively unexplored implications for the pathogenesis of CAT. Indeed, cancers may contain molecularly distinct cellular subpopulations, or dynamic epigenetic states associated with different profiles of coagulant activity. In this article we discuss some of the relevant lessons from the single cell "omics" and how they could unlock new potential mechanisms through which cancer driving oncogenic lesions may modulate CAT, with possible consequences for patient stratification, care, and outcomes.