Background: Enhanced platelet activation has been implicated in several pathophysiological processes. Here, we evaluated the biological reproducibility of circulating P-Selectin, Thrombomodulin (TM), Thrombopoietin (TPO), and Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa) to assess whether these analytes can be used as reliable biomarkers of platelet activation in epidemiological studies.
Methods: We measured circulating P-Selectin, TM, TPO and GPIIb/IIIa by immunoassays in two blood samples of 78 participants of the EPIC Heidelberg study (47-80years, 50% female) that were collected one year apart. Biological reproducibility of biomarker levels over time and associations with routine biochemistry parameters were assessed by Spearman's correlation coefficients.
Results: Statistical analyses revealed good reproducibility over one year for two of the analyzed markers, with Spearman coefficients of ρ=0.80 (P-Selectin) and ρ=0.73 (TPO) and reasonable reproducibility for TM (ρ=0.63) and GPIIb/IIIa (ρ=0.51). Levels of P-Selectin, TM, TPO and GPIIb/IIIa were not significantly associated with routine biochemistry parameters, such as glucose, HbA1c, LDL, HDL, Triglycerides and CRP.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that a single assessment of P-Selectin, TM, TPO and GPIIb/IIIa at baseline in prospective epidemiological studies is appropriate to investigate associations between platelet activation and risks of chronic diseases.
Keywords: Biological reproducibility; Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa; Intra-individual variation; P-Selectin; Thrombomodulin; Thrombopoietin.
Copyright © 2017 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.