How do platelets detect injury or disease and trigger dangerous clotting?

Study of the molecular mechanisms that allow the collagen-binding chaperone protein HSP47 to modulate platelet responses to collagen (Ms Gemma Little)

Platelets are small blood cells that protect us from bleeding by triggering blood to clot following an injury. But platelets can also trigger thrombosis - blood clotting inside the arteries, putting people at risk of heart attack or stroke. Research is crucial to understanding exactly how platelets and blood clotting works, so that we can find ways to prevent heart attack or stroke without impairing the essential clotting response to injury. This research looks at how platelets ‘see’ injury and how they respond to it. Professor Gibbins’ team has discovered a new protein, called HSP47, which is present on the surface of platelets. HSP47 controls platelets’ ability to ‘see’ molecules of collagen, which are revealed when tissue is injured. They’ve found that, in mice, if they block this protein, thrombosis, or dangerous clotting, is prevented. Now this grant will fund a PhD student to continue work in platelet samples from humans and mice, under the supervision of Professor Gibbins. They will investigate exactly how HSP47 finds its way to the platelets’ surface from the inside of the cell, how it remains there, and how it helps platelets to respond to collagen. The findings will reveal whether HSP47 could be a new drug target that carefully controls platelet function, safely reducing the risk of thrombosis and heart attacks.