Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Expression of Tissue Factor and Platelet/Leukocyte Markers on Extracellular Vesicles Reflect Platelet-Leukocyte Interaction in Severe COVID-19

Tanja Eichhorn
ORCID logo ,
René Weiss
ORCID logo ,
Silke Huber
ORCID logo ,
Marie Ebeyer-Masotta
ORCID logo ,
Marwa Mostageer
,
Robert Emprechtinger
,
Ludwig Knabl, Sr.
,
Ludwig Knabl
,
Reinhard Würzner
ORCID logo ,
Viktoria Weber
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 13 October 2023 / Approved: 13 October 2023 / Online: 16 October 2023 (09:56:37 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Eichhorn, T.; Weiss, R.; Huber, S.; Ebeyer-Masotta, M.; Mostageer, M.; Emprechtinger, R.; Knabl, Sr., L.; Knabl , L.; Würzner, R.; Weber, V. Expression of Tissue Factor and Platelet/Leukocyte Markers on Extracellular Vesicles Reflect Platelet–Leukocyte Interaction in Severe COVID-19. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 16886. Eichhorn, T.; Weiss, R.; Huber, S.; Ebeyer-Masotta, M.; Mostageer, M.; Emprechtinger, R.; Knabl, Sr., L.; Knabl , L.; Würzner, R.; Weber, V. Expression of Tissue Factor and Platelet/Leukocyte Markers on Extracellular Vesicles Reflect Platelet–Leukocyte Interaction in Severe COVID-19. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 16886.

Abstract

Severe COVID-19 is frequently associated with thromboembolic complications. Increased platelet activation and platelet-leukocyte aggregate formation can amplify thrombotic responses by inducing tissue factor (TF) expression on leukocytes. Here, we characterized TF-positive extracellular vesicles (EVs) and their cellular origin in 12 patients suffering from severe COVID-19 (time course, 134 samples overall) and 25 healthy controls. EVs exposing phosphatidylserine (PS) were characterized by flow cytometry. Their cellular origin was determined by staining with anti-CD41, anti-CD45, anti-CD235a, and anti-CD105 as platelet, leukocyte, red blood cell, and endothelial markers. We further investigated the association of EVs with TF, platelet factor 4 (PF4), C-reactive protein (CRP) and high mobility group box-1 protein (HMGB-1). COVID-19 patients showed higher levels of PS-exposing EVs compared to controls. The majority of these EVs originated from platelets. A higher amount of EVs in patient samples were associated with CRP, HMGB-1, PF4, and TF, as compared to EVs from healthy donors. In COVID-19 samples, 16.5% of all CD41+ EVs displayed the leukocyte marker CD45, and 55.5% of all EV aggregates (CD41+CD45+) co-expressed TF, which reflects the interaction of platelets and leukocytes in COVID-19 on an EV level.

Keywords

platelet-leukocyte aggregates; extracellular vesicles; tissue factor; COVID-19; immunothrombosis

Subject

Biology and Life Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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