Levels of beta-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 in various diseases
Matsuda, T.; Seki, T.; Ogawara, M.; Miura, R.; Yokouchi, M.; Murakami, M.
Nihon Ketsueki Gakkai Zasshi Journal of Japan Haematological Society 43(5): 871-878
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5806 PMID: 6165213 Document Number: 160336
Concentrations of .beta.-thromboglobulin (.beta.-TG) and platelet factor 4 (PF-4) in platelet poor plasma were measured using radioimmunoassay in 96 healthy Japanese and 201 hospitalized patients. In normal subjects, mean values (and S.D.) of .beta.-TG and PF-4 were 37 .+-. 20 ng/ml and 8 .+-. 6 ng/ml, respectively. A statistically significant correlation between levels of .beta.-TG and PF-4 was observed in 96 normal subjects (r = +0.72, P < 0.01). Concentrations of these proteins increased frequently in cases of acute myocardial infarction, acute cerebral infarction, transient ischemic attacks, diabetic retinopathy, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism or nephrotic syndrome. In patients with DIC, elevation of .beta.-TG or PF-4 levels was not so extreme as was expected. In subjects in whom production of platelets in bone marrow was suppressed, concentrations of .beta.-TG and PF-4 were generally low, even if DIC was complicated. In a 77 yr old female with diabetes mellitus and hypertension, in whom concentrations of .beta.-TG and PF-4 were determined by chance before and after onset of thrombosis of the left basilar artery, a transient increase in levels of .beta.-TG and PF-4 was observed immediately after the stroke. Concentrations of .beta.-TG and PF-4 did increase preceding development of myocardial infarction in some cases. In a 67 yr old male, levels of .beta.-TG continuously increased from 2 mo. before occurrence of acute myocardial infarction till immediately after the attack. Levels of .beta.-TG and PF-4 in same plasma samples of 78 hospitalized patients correlated significantly (r = +0.80, P < 0.001), although there were few cases, in whom discrepancies between levels of .beta.-TG and PF-4 were observed. Following oral administration of dipyridamole (300 mg, daily) to 7 patients (6 were cases of cerebral infarction, 1 was a patient with nephrotic syndrome), concentrations of .beta.-TG and PF-4 decreased slightly, although platelet aggregability induced by addition of ADP (final concentration was 2 .mu.M) did not change significantly. Increase in .beta.-TG or PF-4 indicates presence of a hypercoagulable state in a broad sense, although the converse is not always true.