Paper

Microparticles and Cancer
Chirag Amin, Nigel Mackman, Nigel S. Key

Department of Medicine and Program in Hemostasis and Thrombosis, Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, N.C., USA

Address of Corresponding Author

Pathophysiol Haemos Thromb 2007/2008;36:177-183 (DOI: 10.1159/000175155)

  Key Words

• Venous thromboembolism
• Cancer
• Microparticles
• Tissue factor

  Abstract

Cancer is a prothrombotic state, with an increased prevalence of arterial and venous thromboemboli. Microparticles (MPs) are sub-micron-sized vesicles derived from activated or apoptotic cancer cells and/or host cells that may causally contribute to these clinical events, although the strength of the evidence thus far is inconclusive. We review the state-of-the-art understanding of the origin of circulating MPs, their role as a potentially important procoagulant entity in cancer, and their clinically documented association with malignancies. It is anticipated that if the functional importance of circulating MPs in clinically meaningful endpoints in cancer can be proven by appropriately designed and powered prospective studies, future investigation will focus on whether MPs can be targeted for therapeutic purposes.

Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Nigel S. Key, MB, FRCP
932 Mary Ellen Jones Building, CB #7035
Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (USA)
Tel. +1 919 966 3311, Fax +1 919 843 4896
E-Mail nigel_key@med.unc.edu

  Article Information

Number of Print Pages : 7
Number of Figures : 1, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 72