Summary
The most convincing evidence for the participation of platelets in arterial thrombosis
in humans comes from studies of platelet activation in patients with acute coronary
syndromes (ACS) and from trials of antiplatelet drugs. Both strongly support the concept
that repeated episodes of platelet activation over the thrombogenic surface of a vulnerable
plaque may contribute to the risk of death from coronary causes. However, the relation
of <i>in vivo</i>platelet activation and adverse clinical events to results of platelet
function tests remains largely unknown. A valuable marker of <i>in vivo</i>platelet
activation should be specific, unaltered by pre-analytical artefacts and reproducibly
measured by easily performed methods. This article describes current biomarkers of
platelet activation in ACS, reviews their advantages and disadvantages, discusses
their potential pitfalls, and demonstrates emerging data supporting the positive clinical
implications of monitoring in vivo platelet ac- tivation in the setting of ACS.
Keywords
Acute coronary syndromes - platelet-derived biomarkers - thromboxane - metabolites
- P-selectin - CD40L