Platelet adhesion in breast cancer: development and application of a novel assay

The increased risk of thromboembolism in cancer may be related to a prothrombotic or hypercoagulable state, with abnormalities of haemostasis and platelet activation. To further investigate the role of platelets in this disease, we developed and applied a new assay to detect and quantify platelet adhesion to the well-defined subendothelial substrate, fibrinogen. Platelet-rich plasma was obtained from 31 females with breast cancer (13 metastatic, 18 benign), and 30 healthy female controls, re-suspended to 2 x 10(8) cells/ml and 100 microl and incubated for 1 h in microtitre plates pre-coated with fibrinogen (5 mg/ml). The supernatant was carefully aspirated, lysed with Triton X-100 and stored at -70 degrees C as supernatant-platelet lysate. The microtitre wells were carefully washed with saline, bound platelets lysed with Triton, and the lysate stored at -70 degrees C as bound-platelet lysate. P-selectin was determined in supernatant-platelet lysate and bound-platelet lysate for each patient by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Interpreting differences in P-selectin in different lysates as reflective of adhesion, patients with cancer had increased platelet adhesion (absolute and percentage, both P <0.001) compared with healthy controls. There was also more adhesion (P <0.001) in metastatic disease compared with non-metastatic disease. Patients with breast carcinomas, and, in particular, those with metastatic disease, have a higher degree of platelet adhesion, which may by quantified by a novel method based on cell lysis. This increase in platelet adhesiveness may be related to an increased risk of thromboembolism in these patients.