How does fluoroaluminate activate human platelets?

Blood platelets activate the classical pathway of human complement.

OBJECTIVE Activation of the complement system plays a key role in inflammation associated with vascular injury. Recently, platelet P-selectin was shown to activate C3 via the alternative pathway of human complement. As platelets also posses binding sites for C1q, the recognition unit of the classical complement pathway, the present study examined classical pathway activation on platelets. MET...

The source of HLA molecules on platelets: Does platelets adsorb soluble HLA molecules from their environment?

Background: The origin and function of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules on platelets are still highly arguable. Given the differences in the results of the previous studies in this regard, the lack of research in recent years, and the clinical importance of HLA class I molecules, the absorption capacity of platelets for soluble HLA class I molecules was studied in this investigat...

Rabbit and rat platelets do not respond to thrombin receptor peptides that activate human platelets.

Human platelets are aggregated and induced to release their granule contents and form thromboxane by peptides as short as 6-amino acid residues (SFLLRN) corresponding to the newly released N-terminus of the thrombin receptor that is cleaved by thrombin. Using washed platelets, we found that these responses to SFLLRN (2 to 6 mumol/L) were enhanced by fibrinogen. However, neither SFLLRN nor SFLLR...

How to Activate a Power

Checkpoints: How to activate p53

One in three people are touched by cancer at least once in their lifetime. Over half of human tumours are associated with mutations that either directly affect the protein p53 or affect components of pathways that regulate p53. The discovery that ‘checkpoint’ pathways, which monitor the structural integrity of our chromosomes, stabilise and activate p53 in response to DNA damage indicated how t...