Clinicians may one day be able to draw upon personalised clotting profiles to deliver precision medicine to people at risk of stroke, thanks to new research.
In a study published in Blood Advances, researchers created a test that separates people into different groups depending on how their bodies respond to different clotting events.
Platelets form blood clots to stop or prevent bleeding. But when they malfunction, they can block the flow of oxygen to the brain, leading to ischemic stroke.
The researchers from the University of Reading and University of Cambridge triggered the clotting events and then analysed and classified the data using new software and algorithms.
The team identified two key characteristics that the platelets displayed: the sensitivity of a response to an agent and the strength of the response.
These were found to be independent characteristics that separated the human blood donors into different groups.
The findings enabled the research team to filter the donors into six distinct groups which remained unchanged for the majority of the samples tested two years later.
Dr Joanne Dunster, a mathematician based in the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at the University of Reading said:
“This research showcases how we can better understand the individual ways that our platelets respond to events that lead to clotting, either when clotting is needed for healing, or when they shouldn’t, which is when strokes and heart attacks happen.”
Professor Jon Gibbins, Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research at the University of Reading said that precision medicine was ‘the next big thing in medicine.’ However, such treatments require much more detailed profiles of our bodies, he added.
Prof Gibbins said:
“Heart disease and strokes are the biggest killers around the world, and millions of patients are prescribed drugs to reduce their risk of having a potentially deadly attack. Currently mostly patients are treated the same – a one size fits all approach.
“This new research is therefore really exciting as we have a framework for building a personalised clotting profile that is simple to administer and could help clinicians to prescribe more effective treatments to reduce the risks of strokes and heart disease further.”
