Platelets and Immunothrombosis

A platelet is an immune cell that happens to clot. It has no nucleus, yet it carries mRNA and splices it, releases chemokines by the milligram, presents CD40L, and signals through ITAM and hemITAM receptors using the same grammar as a B cell. Immunothrombosis is the name for what follows: an infection raises tissue factor on monocytes and endothelium, platelets capture neutrophils through P-selectin, the neutrophils release NETs, and the NETs provide a scaffold for more clotting. The loop needs no external input once it has started. Click any protein for the matching Assay Genie In Vivo antibody or ELISA kit.