Discovery May Aid Development of Treatments for Clotting Disorders

The discovery that an enzyme called thrombin has two different ways to tell blood platelets to form a clot might help researchers develop new therapies for clotting disorders like heart attacks and strokes, researchers from UC San Francisco report in today’s issue of the journal Nature. When blood vessels are injured or the flesh is cut, thrombin activates platelets--the little cells that clump together to plug blood vessels.

The problem comes when platelets plug blood vessels that should not be plugged, as in heart attacks and strokes. Blood thinners interfere with this process, but leave the patient susceptible to excessive bleeding from wounds. The discovery by Dr. Shaun R. Coughlin and his colleagues that there are two receptors suggests that it may be possible to develop drugs that minimize clotting inside arteries while allowing clots to form at wounds.

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II