The study, which was published in Nature Communications, discovered that VWF plays a key role in modulating immunological responses at locations of blood vessel injury. This suggests that, in addition to its role in blood clotting, the protein has a newly found job in healing damaged blood arteries.
VWF deficiency is known as 'von Willebrand Disease,' and it affects roughly 1 in 1,000 people in Ireland. People with this illness are more likely to experience very heavy bleeding. People with high quantities of the protein in their blood, on the other hand, are at danger of developing major blood clots. Very high VWF levels, for example, have been linked to the peculiar blood clots found in the lungs of individuals with severe COVID-19.
For the first time, our study demonstrates that VWF not only modulates blood coagulation at the site of damage, but also activates local immunological responses. Understanding VWF's novel biological role in controlling inflammatory responses could lead to the development of entirely new therapy options for people suffering from inflammatory and blood clotting disorders such von Willebrand Disease, deep vein thrombosis, and myocardial infarction.
RCSI collaborated with Trinity College Dublin and the National Coagulation Centre at St James's Hospital in Dublin on the study.
The research was supported by the Science Foundation Ireland and the National Institutes of Health in the United States (NIH).
