Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C

BackgroundThe mechanism by which combined oral contraceptives (COCs) lead to hypercoagulation is not fully understood, although activated protein C (APC) pathway resistance has been implicated. APC and thrombomodulin (TM) tend to be considered as interchangeable reagents, even though their biologica...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marisa Ninivaggi, Lily Sokolova, Demy Donkervoort, Bas de Laat, Romy de Laat-Kremers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2024.1490601/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850065660526198784
author Marisa Ninivaggi
Lily Sokolova
Lily Sokolova
Demy Donkervoort
Bas de Laat
Bas de Laat
Romy de Laat-Kremers
author_facet Marisa Ninivaggi
Lily Sokolova
Lily Sokolova
Demy Donkervoort
Bas de Laat
Bas de Laat
Romy de Laat-Kremers
author_sort Marisa Ninivaggi
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundThe mechanism by which combined oral contraceptives (COCs) lead to hypercoagulation is not fully understood, although activated protein C (APC) pathway resistance has been implicated. APC and thrombomodulin (TM) tend to be considered as interchangeable reagents, even though their biological action in coagulation is different. However, it remains unclear which reagent is better suited for the detection of APC pathway resistance. We compared the effectiveness of TM and APC in TG to detect COC-induced APC pathway resistance using thrombin generation (TG).MethodsTG was measured on ST Genesia in 48 healthy women, of whom 24 used COCs. TG was triggered with STG-ThromboScreen (with and without TM), spiked with a low and high concentration of TM or APC (2 or 15 nM TM, or 1.5 or 5.5 nM APC), aimed to achieve 50% and 90% ETP inhibition, respectively.ResultsTG was higher in women using COCs. TM and APC inhibit TG in all women, although their inhibitory effect is more pronounced in women without COC compared to women with COC. The addition of 2 nM TM causes an ETP reduction of 40% (1,289 vs. 768 nM•min) in women without COC and an ETP reduction of 24% (1,704 vs. 1,287 nM•min) in women with COC. The addition of 1.5 nM APC causes an ETP reduction of 41% (1,289 vs. 759 nM•min) in women without COC and an ETP reduction of 23% (1,704 vs. 1,316 nM•min) in women with COC. The difference in effect between women with and without COC is largest when 15 nM TM, aimed at 90% ETP inhibition, is used. 15 nM TM leads to the smallest overlap in ETP inhibition between women with and without COC (27% overlap), compared to 2 nM TM (41% overlap), and 1.5 nM APC (38% overlap) and 5.5 nM APC (41% overlap).ConclusionAlthough TM and APC are often used interchangeably to assess the sensitivity of the APC system in TG, our findings suggest that TM is a better discriminator to detect COC-use induced APC pathway resistance. In addition, we found that the ETP is a better TG test readout for APC pathway resistance testing than the peak height.
format Article
id doaj-art-e70f2acd1d7d431da00da3845cc37151
institution DOAJ
issn 2297-055X
language English
publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
spelling doaj-art-e70f2acd1d7d431da00da3845cc371512025-08-20T02:48:57ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine2297-055X2024-11-011110.3389/fcvm.2024.14906011490601Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein CMarisa Ninivaggi0Lily Sokolova1Lily Sokolova2Demy Donkervoort3Bas de Laat4Bas de Laat5Romy de Laat-Kremers6Department of Functional Coagulation, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsDepartment of Functional Coagulation, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsDepartment of Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsDepartment of Functional Coagulation, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsDepartment of Functional Coagulation, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsDepartment of Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsDepartment of Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence, Synapse Research Institute, Maastricht, NetherlandsBackgroundThe mechanism by which combined oral contraceptives (COCs) lead to hypercoagulation is not fully understood, although activated protein C (APC) pathway resistance has been implicated. APC and thrombomodulin (TM) tend to be considered as interchangeable reagents, even though their biological action in coagulation is different. However, it remains unclear which reagent is better suited for the detection of APC pathway resistance. We compared the effectiveness of TM and APC in TG to detect COC-induced APC pathway resistance using thrombin generation (TG).MethodsTG was measured on ST Genesia in 48 healthy women, of whom 24 used COCs. TG was triggered with STG-ThromboScreen (with and without TM), spiked with a low and high concentration of TM or APC (2 or 15 nM TM, or 1.5 or 5.5 nM APC), aimed to achieve 50% and 90% ETP inhibition, respectively.ResultsTG was higher in women using COCs. TM and APC inhibit TG in all women, although their inhibitory effect is more pronounced in women without COC compared to women with COC. The addition of 2 nM TM causes an ETP reduction of 40% (1,289 vs. 768 nM•min) in women without COC and an ETP reduction of 24% (1,704 vs. 1,287 nM•min) in women with COC. The addition of 1.5 nM APC causes an ETP reduction of 41% (1,289 vs. 759 nM•min) in women without COC and an ETP reduction of 23% (1,704 vs. 1,316 nM•min) in women with COC. The difference in effect between women with and without COC is largest when 15 nM TM, aimed at 90% ETP inhibition, is used. 15 nM TM leads to the smallest overlap in ETP inhibition between women with and without COC (27% overlap), compared to 2 nM TM (41% overlap), and 1.5 nM APC (38% overlap) and 5.5 nM APC (41% overlap).ConclusionAlthough TM and APC are often used interchangeably to assess the sensitivity of the APC system in TG, our findings suggest that TM is a better discriminator to detect COC-use induced APC pathway resistance. In addition, we found that the ETP is a better TG test readout for APC pathway resistance testing than the peak height.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2024.1490601/fullthrombinactivated protein cthrombomodulincoagulationcombined oral contraceptives
spellingShingle Marisa Ninivaggi
Lily Sokolova
Lily Sokolova
Demy Donkervoort
Bas de Laat
Bas de Laat
Romy de Laat-Kremers
Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C
Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
thrombin
activated protein c
thrombomodulin
coagulation
combined oral contraceptives
title Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C
title_full Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C
title_fullStr Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C
title_full_unstemmed Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C
title_short Thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives-induced activated protein C pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein C
title_sort thrombomodulin is a stronger indicator of combined oral contraceptives induced activated protein c pathway resistance in the thrombin generation test than activated protein c
topic thrombin
activated protein c
thrombomodulin
coagulation
combined oral contraceptives
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2024.1490601/full
work_keys_str_mv AT marisaninivaggi thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc
AT lilysokolova thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc
AT lilysokolova thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc
AT demydonkervoort thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc
AT basdelaat thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc
AT basdelaat thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc
AT romydelaatkremers thrombomodulinisastrongerindicatorofcombinedoralcontraceptivesinducedactivatedproteincpathwayresistanceinthethrombingenerationtestthanactivatedproteinc