Our laboratory studies the intersection of inflammation and hemostasis and currently we are focusing on the platelet’s role in Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).  ALI and ARDS affect over 200,000 individuals yearly with a 40% mortality rate.  While platelets are implicated in the progression of ALI/ARDS, their exact role remains undefined. As the only platelet laboratory in Puerto Rico we struggle with leaving the island (our fishbowl) to give our students a global feel of the research arena.   At the time of the Metabolism CCWCS workshop, we were investigating the Triggering Receptor Expressed in Myeloid cells (TREM)-Like Transcript (TLT)-1, which is found on platelets and mediates clot formation.  We used a murine lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI model to demonstrate delayed neutrophil transmigration in the absence of TLT-1.  Infusion of sTLT-1 restores normal neutrophil transmigration and reduces pulmonary hemorrhage by 40% (<i>p</i>≤0.001).  At this point our studies had stalled.  At our CCWCS workshop on metabolism, I meet Dr. Gibson from Maryville college, a small liberal arts school in Maryville TN.  Interactions with Dr. Gibson’s group at Maryville collage infused new ideas and energy into our project.   We hypothesized that platelets use TLT-1 to manage the progression of ALI/ARDS.  In conjunction with her group we retrospectively measured plasma levels of sTLT-1 from the ARDSNET clinical trials and show that patients whose sTLT-1 levels were &gt;1200pg/mL had nearly twice the mortality risk as those with &lt;1200 pg/mL (p&lt;0.001).  Our findings demonstrate that TLT-1 governs the transition between inflammation and hemostasis using an anticipatory strategy to facilitate controlled leukocyte transmigration during the progression of ARDS. While the seminars at the CCWCS workshop helped us eliminate metabolism as a platelet, it also facilitated the unexpected collaboration with a small liberal arts college that led to novel cutting-edge scientific findings.<br/>

Reaching out of the fishbowl

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.