Low factor XIII levels and altered fibrinolysis in patients with multiple myeloma.

BACKGROUND: Acquired factor FXIII (FXIII) deficiency can be immune- or non-immune mediated and may cause severe bleeding symptoms. The incidence of acquired FXIII deficiency and its etiology in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: To assess FXIII levels and the balance of fibrinolysis in newly diagnosed, untreated MM and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) patients. METHODS: FXIII activity, mixing studies, FXIII-A2B2 antigen, total FXIII-B antigen were measured in platelet-poor plasma from 17 untreated MM patients, 33 untreated MGUS patients, and 30 age and sex-matched healthy controls. Besides routine laboratory measurements, the balance of coagulation and fibrinolysis was evaluated using quantitative fibrin monomer (FM) test, thrombin-antithrombin assay, α2-antiplasmin activity, plasmin-α2-antiplasmin (PAP) complex, D-dimer, plasmin generation assay, clot lysis assay, and ClotPro-TPA test. RESULTS: FXIII-A2B2 levels were significantly lower in MM patients compared to controls [median (IQR):14.6 (11.2-19.4) vs. 21.8 (17.1-26.4) mg/L, p = 0.0015], whereas total FXIII-B did not differ between groups. Decrease in FXIII activity was parallel to the decrease in FXIII-A2B2. An immune-mediated inhibitory mechanism was ruled out. Free/total FXIII-B was significantly higher in MM patients compared to MGUS and healthy controls, suggesting an etiology of FXIII-A consumption. In MM and MGUS patients, FM, D-dimer, and PAP complex were significantly elevated compared to controls, indicating hypercoagulability and ongoing fibrinolysis. CONCLUSIONS: Low FXIII levels due to consumption were observed in MM patients at diagnosis. Hypercoagulability and ongoing fibrinolysis were detected in MM and MGUS, indicating that a disturbed hemostasis balance is already present in the latter benign condition.

Patients with multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance have variably increased thrombin generation and different sensitivity to the anticoagulant effect of activated protein C.

BACKGROUND: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are at high risk of thrombosis especially when receiving immunomodulatory therapy. Thrombotic risk in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) may also be increased. Although activated protein C (APC) resistance has been linked to an increased risk of thrombosis in MM, little is known about how APC influences thrombotic risk in MGUS. We compared thrombin generation (TG) in MM and MGUS patients to that of healthy controls (HCs) and investigated the exogenous effect of APC on TG in these groups. METHODS: Hemostasis tests including factor VIII (FVIII) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) levels were measured in platelet-poor plasma in 14 untreated MM patients, 34 MGUS patients, and 30 age and sex-matched HCs. TG assay was performed with or without the addition of APC. RESULTS: Peak thrombin and velocity index were significantly higher in MM and MGUS patients compared to HCs, while MM patients also had elevated endogenous thrombin potential (ETP). In MGUS cases, ETP and peak thrombin values significantly correlated with FVIII and vWF levels. In the presence of APC, peak thrombin and ETP were reduced in MGUS and control plasmas whereas lagtime and time to peak were significantly prolonged. In contrast, adding APC to MM plasma had no effect on any TG parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Hypercoagulability was observed in MM and even in MGUS cases with very low monoclonal protein concentration. In MM patients, APC had no effect on TG, but it attenuated TG in MGUS patients.

The Proteasome Inhibitor Bortezomib Induces Apoptosis and Activation in Gel-Filtered Human Platelets.

Bortezomib (BTZ) has demonstrated its efficacy in several hematological disorders and has been associated with thrombocytopenia. There is controversy about the effect of BTZ on human platelets, so we set out to determine its effect on various types of platelet samples. Human platelets were investigated in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and as gel-filtered platelets (GFPs). Mitochondrial inner membrane potential depolarization and phosphatidylserine (PS) and P-selectin expression levels were studied by flow cytometry, while thrombin generation was measured by a fluorescent method. In PRP, BTZ caused negligible PS expression after 60 min of treatment. However, in GFPs, PS expression was dose- and time-dependently increased in the BTZ-treated groups, as was P-selectin. The percentage of depolarized cells was also higher after BTZ pretreatment at both time points. Peak thrombin and velocity index increased significantly even with the lowest BTZ concentration (p = 0.0019; p = 0.0032) whereas time to peak and start tail parameters decreased (p = 0.0007; p = 0.0034). The difference between PRP and GFP results can be attributed to the presence of plasma proteins in PRP, as the PS-stimulating effect of BTZ could be attenuated by supplementing GFPs with purified human albumin. Overall, BTZ induces a procoagulant platelet phenotype in an experimental setting devoid of plasma proteins.

Implementation of multidisciplinary care reduces maternal mortality in women with sickle cell disease living in low-resource setting.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is associated with adverse pregnancy outcome. In women with SCD living in low-resource settings, pregnancy is associated with significantly increased maternal and perinatal mortality rates. We tested the hypothesis that implementing a multidisciplinary obstetric and hematology care team in a low-resource setting would significantly reduce maternal and perinatal mortality rates. We conducted a before-and-after study, at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana, to evaluate the effect of a multidisciplinary obstetric-hematology care team for women with SCD in a combined SCD-Obstetric Clinic. The pre-intervention period was assessed through a retrospective chart review to identify every death and the post-intervention period was assessed prospectively. Interventions consisted of joint obstetrician and hematologist outpatient and acute inpatient reviews, close maternal and fetal surveillance, and simple protocols for management of acute chest syndrome and acute pain episodes. Primary outcomes included maternal and perinatal mortality rates before and after the study period. A total of 158 and 90 pregnant women with SCD were evaluated in the pre- and post- intervention periods, respectively. The maternal mortality rate decreased from 10 791 per 100 000 live births at pre-intervention to 1176 per 100 000 at post-intervention, representing a risk reduction of 89.1% (P = 0.007). Perinatal mortality decreased from 60.8 per 1000 total births at pre-intervention to 23.0 per 1000 at post-intervention, representing a risk reduction of 62.2% (P = 0.20). A multidisciplinary obstetric and hematology team approach can dramatically reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in a low-resource setting.