Platelets in Disease: From Biomarkers Discovery to Therapeutic Targets

Platelets are well known for their pivotal role in thrombosis and hemostasis. In primary hemostasis, activated plate-lets adhere to the sub-endothelium and aggregate to form a platelet plug. Platelet hyperactivity results in thrombus for-mation, leading to arterial ischemia and infarction. In addition to thrombosis and hemostasis, platelets are now known to play major effector activities in a number of additional functions, including inflammatory reactions, innate immune re-sponses, tumorigenesis, and progression. Instrumental to these activities is the ability of platelets to respond to signals from the circulation system, endocrine system, immune system, and circulating tumor cells. In response to these signals, platelets secrete more than 300 active substances, including coagulation factors, growth factors, chemokines, cytokines, microbicidal proteins, prostaglandins, thromboxane A2 (TXA2), eicosanoids, and RNA species, influence many physio-logical and pathophysiological processes beyond hemostasis. As bidirectional communication, platelets can also uptake plasma contents and even cellular components, thus providing another mechanism influence pathophysiological pro-cesses.

Recent developments in platelet biology demonstrated their role in the pathophysiology of a wide variety of diseas-es beyond the disorders of coagulation, including diabetes mellitus, lung disease, neurological disorders, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. Platelets appear as both effectors and targets in the pathophysiology of these diseases, making clin-ical application very promising for identifying and quantifying specific platelet contents as novel biomarkers and thera-peutic targets. Specifically, platelet membrane proteins, platelet-derived microparticles, platelet non-coding RNA, plate-let releasates, and platelet post-translational modifications could dramatically change in many diseases, and hence may serve as new therapeutic targets in several pathological conditions.

Recent studies have analyzed the important role of platelet abnormalities in the pathophysiology of a wide variety of diseases beyond the disorders of coagulation, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, lung disease, neurological disorders, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. While the key signaling pathways mediating the platelet effects at the molecular mechanisms, cellular level, as well as animal experiments, are still under investigation. The purpose of this research topic is to understand specific roles played by platelets to impact multiple human diseases and identifying specific platelet contents as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets. This research topic will be important for obtaining more evidence and knowledge on current trends in the field of treatment of human diseases relating to the platelet.

In this Research Topic we welcome manuscripts that specifically deal with the basic and/or clinical study of platelet function or platelet contents as novel biomarkers or therapeutic targets in human diseases. Authors are encouraged to submit original experimental articles, expert reviews, short communications, and clinical trial articles associated with this Research Topic. We expect submissions relating to, but not limited to, the following topics:
-Platelet proteins and functions contribute as novel biomarkers to human diseases;
-How platelets communicate with their environment via lipids, bioactive peptides, proteins, RNA species, extracellular vesicles et al.;
-The study of interactions of platelets with cancer cells;
-New medications for the treatment of platelet-related disorders;
-Proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and bioinformatics improving the knowledge of signal networks underlying the platelet response to pathophysiological pathways;
-Novel antiplatelet targets against specific platelet responses, with a reduced threat of adverse effects;