Frederik Denorme: How von Willebrand Factor Drives the No-Reflow Phenomenon in Stroke
Frederik Denorme, Tenure Track Assistant Professor at University of Antwerp, shared a post on LinkedIn about a recent article he and his colleagues co-authored, published in PNAS, adding:
”Very proud to see our paper ‘Mechanisms of von Willebrand factor activation driving no reflow in ischemic stroke’ finally out in press at PNAS.
We can reopen a blocked artery after a stroke. But blood does not always reach the brain tissue behind it.
Our new paper in PNAS asks a simple question: why?
Here is what we found:
When flow returns, it converges in the brain’s small collateral vessels.
Our modeling indicates this creates stretching flow conditions that favor the unfolding of von Willebrand factor (VWF), a large clotting protein.
Once unfolded, VWF captures platelets and seeds new micro-clots. In the very vessels that should be restoring blood supply.
Inflammation makes it worse. IL-6 lowers the activity of ADAMTS13, the enzyme that normally cleaves VWF and keeps it in check.
We reached this by combining three views of one problem:
- Intravital microscopy to watch the clots form
- Computational fluid dynamics to model the flow
- Patient data to check the biology in people
A true international team effort.
Grateful to everyone who made it happen.”
Proceed to the video attached to the post.
Title: Mechanisms of von Willebrand factor activation driving no reflow in ischemic stroke
Authors: Audrée Laroche, Nick Rovito, Alice Liu, Isabelle Allaeys, Laura Heitsch, Irina Portier, Opeolu Adeoye, Stephanie R. Pizzella, James A. Giles, Jorge Di Paola, Jin-Moo Lee, David Bark, Robert A. Campbell, Debanjan Mukherjee, Éric Boilard, Frederik Denorme
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