Abstract
In order to elucidate the relationship between antiphospholipid antibody (APLA) and thrombotic tendency, we studied the changes in the blood coagulation system in 31 positive APLA patients using thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) and β-thromboglobulin (β-TG), two sensitive molecular markers for in vivo hypercoagulability.
The mean plasma levels of TAT and β-TG in the patients were not significantly elevated when compared with those in healthy subjects. And also they were not significantly correlated with anti-cardiolipin antibody titers. In two cases of the patients, plasma levels of TAT and β-TG were serially measured as the underlying disease activities went on. In spite of the disease progression, no significant changes in both plasma TAT and β-TG levels were observed. In one case of the two, however, deep vein thrombosis occurred at a markedly advanced stage of the underlying disease with a rapid increase in both plasma TAT and β-TG levels.
These findings suggest that the presence of APLA per se would not directly correlate with in vivo generation of thrombin or platelet activation, but would be an important precipitating factor of thrombus formation under a physical condition closely associated with thrombin generation and/or platelet activation.
