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EMBARGOED
FOR RELEASE UNTIL
August 8, 2007
APS Contact
Donna Krupa
Office:
(301) 634-7253
Cell: (703) 967-2751
dkrupa@the-aps.org
New Research Aims To Identify
Markers For Menopausal Women
At Risk For Deadly Blood Clot
AUSTIN, TX – In women, hormone therapy is a risk
factor for venous thrombosis, a blood clot forming deep inside the vein.
Despite the fact that the disorder is rare, it increases exponentially
during menopause and can be deadly. The hormone trials conducted thus far,
focusing on proteins in blood coagulation, have not yet led to a risk
profile, thereby precluding identification of women at risk. Now, a team of
Mayo Clinic researchers, led by Virginia Miller, has developed a novel
concept that uses blood platelets to define thrombotic risk. The team is
testing its theory as part of the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study
(KEEPS). Miller is discussing the research at a conference being sponsored
by the American Physiological Society (APS).
Miller’s colleagues are Muthuvel Jayachandran,
Kazaumori Kashimoto, John A. Heit and Whyte G. Owen, all with the Department
of Surgery, Physiology and Bioengineering, Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester,
MN. Their work is entitled “Sex Steroids, Platelet Aggregation and
Inflammation,” and is among the 120 presentations being offered at the
conference, Sex and Gender in Cardiovascular-Renal Physiology and
Pathophysiology, being held August 9-12, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency
Austin on Town Lake, Austin, TX. The event is the second scientific
gathering to be sponsored by the American Physiological Society (APS;
www.The-APS.org) this year.
A New Approach to Assessing Clot Risk in Menopausal Women
The study focuses on platelets, which are cellular
fragments in the blood. Platelets have a phenotype (i.e., a set of physical
characteristics) that change and it is known that hormones affect platelet
change. The team is examining what happens to platelets in the presence of
hormones – whether platelet microvesicles occur more frequently as a result,
if a change is triggered by infection, and what may account for thrombotic
risk in one woman over another.
The study design takes into account the researchers’
belief that three forces – an injury, a platelet effect at the injury, and
the inflammation that affects the platelet and the vessel wall – are
involved in the development of thrombotic risk.
The study builds on the team’s earlier findings in an
animal model. They are applying the earlier results to a human population
for the first time using blood taken from the women enrolled in the KEEPS
trial. Depending upon the results from this group, a larger trial of 720
samples will be examined.
Depending on the results of this study, the researchers
may examine the relationship of platelet activity, inflammation, and
cardiovascular risk (CV) in men. It is well known that men have a higher
risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) than do females, and arterial
clots, rather than venous clots, are a greater concern in the presence of
CVD. Since men carry the female hormone estrogen as well as the male hormone
testosterone, some of the findings from the female KEEPS study may shed
light on these mechanisms involving men.
Conclusion
According to Dr. Miller, “This type of research brings
us closer to defining risk profiles for a specific health issue. Our hope is
that it can lead to tools that will allow doctors to provide hormonal
therapy for their female patients that is commensurate with a woman’s risk
for venous thrombosis.”
***
The
American Physiological Society (APS;
www.The-APS.org) has been an integral part of the scientific discovery
process since it was established in 1887. Physiology is the study of
how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or
disease.
# # #
NOTE TO EDITORS: The APS meeting is being held
August 9-12, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Austin on Town Lake, Austin, TX.
Members of the media are invited to attend the sessions. To schedule an
interview with Dr. Miller, please contact Donna Krupa at 301.634.7209
(direct dial), 703.967.2751 (cell) or
DKrupa@the-APS.org.
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