Heikki Savolainen, Dept. of Occup. safety & hlth., Tampere, Finland
25 March 2011
Dear Editor,
The excellent review summarizes the salient points of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (1). The immnunological features seem to include the circumstance that heparan sulfate (2) ,and thus heparin, may act as "docking" substrate for properdin, an alternate complement component.
The skin keratinocyte CD-44, i.e. epican, is also a heparan sulfate proteoglycan so that skin lesions associated with heparan could be caused by an analogous mechanism.
1 Sakr Y. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in the ICU: an overview. Critical Care 2011; 15: 211
2 Zaferani A, et al. Identification of tubular heparan sulfate as a docking platform for the alternative complement component properdin in proteinuric renal disease. J biol Chem 2011; 286: 5423
3 Schindewolf M, et al. Incidence and causes of heparin-induced skin lesions. Can med Assoc J 2009; 181: 477
Critical Care
Immunologic properties of heparin congeners
25 March 2011
Dear Editor,
The excellent review summarizes the salient points of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (1). The immnunological features seem to include the circumstance that heparan sulfate (2) ,and thus heparin, may act as "docking" substrate for properdin, an alternate complement component.
The skin keratinocyte CD-44, i.e. epican, is also a heparan sulfate proteoglycan so that skin lesions associated with heparan could be caused by an analogous mechanism.
1 Sakr Y. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia in the ICU: an overview. Critical Care 2011; 15: 211
2 Zaferani A, et al. Identification of tubular heparan sulfate as a docking platform for the alternative complement component properdin in proteinuric renal disease. J biol Chem 2011; 286: 5423
3 Schindewolf M, et al. Incidence and causes of heparin-induced skin lesions. Can med Assoc J 2009; 181: 477
Competing interests
None