Novel therapies for the antiphospholipid syndrome

Abstract

Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL Abs) are associated with thrombosis in patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). There is strong evidence that aPL Abs are pathogenic in vivo from studies in animal models. Furthermore, there are now convincing data indicating that activation of complement is involved in those processes. This report addresses current modalities of treatment, as well as recent findings with respect to molecular events triggered by aPL Abs on endothelial cells, platelets, monocytes and complement activation. A separate section addresses recent findings with regard to the putative receptor(s) recognized by aPL Abs on target cells. Based on experimental evidence using in vitro and in vivo models, new targeted therapies for treatment and/or prevention of thrombosis in APS are proposed and discussed.

Keywords::

• anti-β₂ glycoprotein I antibody
• antiphospholipid antibody
• endothelial cell activation
• lupus anticoagulant
• platelet
• platelet activation
• targeted therapy
• thrombosis

Financial & competing interests disclosure

These studies were partially funded by a Research Centers in Minority Institutions – National Institutes of Health grant #G12-RR03034, a Minority Biomedical Research Support Grant from the National Institutes of Health (GM58268–02) and a NIAMS Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center #2P60AR047785–06. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript