Platelets are crucial for preventing excessive blood loss at sites of injury by plugging holes in damaged blood vessels through thrombus formation. Platelet thrombi can, however, cause heart attack or stroke by blocking diseased vessels upon rupture of atherosclerotic plaques. Current anti-platelet therapy is not effective in all patients and carries a risk of bleeding. As such, a major goal in platelet research is to identify new drug targets to specifically inhibit platelets in disease processes. Tetraspanins are potential candidates because of their capacity to regulate other proteins in microdomains, and their defined roles in cell adhesion and signalling. In the last 6 years, analyses of tetraspanin-deficient mice have suggested that tetraspanins are indeed important for fine-tuning platelet responses. The future characterization of novel regulatory mechanisms in tetraspanin microdomains may lead to new drug targets for the prevention and treatment of heart attack and stroke.
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Conference Article|
March 22 2011
Tetraspanin microdomains: fine-tuning platelet function
Elizabeth J. Haining;
Elizabeth J. Haining
1School of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.
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Jing Yang;
Jing Yang
1School of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.
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Michael G. Tomlinson
Michael G. Tomlinson
1
1School of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email m.g.tomlinson@bham.ac.uk).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
September 22 2010
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 Biochemical Society
2011
Biochem Soc Trans (2011) 39 (2): 518–523.
Article history
Received:
September 22 2010
Citation
Elizabeth J. Haining, Jing Yang, Michael G. Tomlinson; Tetraspanin microdomains: fine-tuning platelet function. Biochem Soc Trans 1 April 2011; 39 (2): 518–523. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0390518
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