Summary
Elevated procoagulant levels have been correlated with increased thrombin generation
in vitro and with increased venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk in epidemiological studies.
hrombin generation tests are increasingly being employed as a high throughput method
to provide a global measure of procoagulant activity in plasma samples. The objective
of this study was to distinguish the effects of assay conditions [tissue factor (TF),
thrombomodulin, platelets/lipids] and factor levels on thrombin generation parameters,
and determine the conditions and parameters with the highest sensitivity and specificity
for detecting elevated factor levels. Thrombin generation was measured using calibrated
automated thrombography (CAT) in corn trypsin inhibitor (CTI)-treated platelet-free
plasma (PFP) and plateletrich plasma (PRP). Statistical analysis was performed using
logarithms of observed values with analysis of variance that accounted for experiment
and treatment. he relative sensitivity of lag time (LT), time to peak (TTP), peak
height and endogenous thrombin potential (ETP) to elevated factors XI, IX,VIII, X,
and prothrombin was as follows: PFP initiated with 1 pM TF > PFP initiated with 5
pM TF > PRP initiated with 1 pM TF. For all conditions, inclusion of thrombomodulin
prolonged the LT and decreased the peak and ETP; however, addition of thrombomodulin
did not increase the ability of CAT to detect elevated levels of individual procoagulant
factors. In conclusion, CAT conditions differentially affected the sensitivity of
thrombin generation to elevated factor levels. Monitoring the peak height and/ or
ETP following initiation of clotting in PFP with 1 pM TF was most likely to detect
hypercoagulability due to increased procoagulant factor levels.
Keywords
Thrombin - tissue factor - thrombomodulin - platelets - hypercoagulability - thrombosis