Influence of Infections on the Glycosylationpattern of Blood Cells

Extracorporeal therapies are clinically applied for organ support or to remove toxic metabolites or pathogenic factors from the circulation.Technically, adsorptive apheresis can be implemented either as plasmasorption after separation of the blood cells or as hemosorption directly from whole blood, which requires adsorbent polymers with excellent blood compatibility to minimize the activation and adhesion of blood cells to the biomaterial surface. Even in hemoadsorption systems which are clinically established and have been evaluated in a number of clinical studies, however, certain patients can develop thrombocytopenia (a drop in platelet counts), and the mechanisms underlying the decreased platelet counts in these patients remain to be elucidated. The specific aims of this project are (1) to characterize the glycosylation pattern of platelets from healthy donors; (2) to characterize the glycosylation pattern of platelets in patients suffering from infections and (3) to study the influence of altered glycosylation on platelet adhesion to adsorbent polymers. This project is funded by the governement of lower austria and the European Regional Development Fund (www.efre.gv.at).

Funding: Country of Lower Austria, EFRE