[ISSUE CoM]Molecular Mechanisms of Platelet Activation in Different Drugs

Professor Joen-Rong Sheu’s main research area is the molecular mechanisms of platelet activation in different drugs. In a recent study published in 2021 by the team led by Prof. Sheu, it was found that platelet activation (Figure 1) induces autophagy through activation of AMPK, and the generation of autophagosome was confirmed by electron microscopy and deconvolution microscopy (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Activated platelets after stimulation

Figure 2: Generation of autophagosome in platelets

In addition, through the use of platelet-specific atg5-/- mice, inhibition of autophagy was found to affect platelet agglutination and the timing of thrombosis formation. These results suggest that platelet activation and autophagy are positively correlated. It is worth mentioning that the team also used metabolomics studies to find that sphingolipid metabolism may play an important role in the interaction between platelet activation and autophagy. These findings may be applied to patients with thrombocytopenia to increase their platelet count. In recent years, research on apoptosis and autophagy in platelets has continued to evolve. In the future, the research team will continue to conduct more studies on autophagy on platelet function and its related mechanisms, in the hope of solving the unsolved mysteries in the anucleate cells.

 

Professor Joen-Rong Sheu
Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Taipei Medical University
Research Interests:
◆ stroke
◆ arterial thrombosis and coagulation
◆ immunotherapy
◆ neurodegeneration and regeneration
◆ new drug development and patenting
Email: sheujr@tmu.edu.tw

 

Dr. Tzu-Yin Lee
Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Taipei Medical University

Email: d119103001@tmu.edu.tw