David Stegner on PITTs Exacerbating Severe Inflammation
David Stegner, Professor of Vascular Imaging at the Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg, shared on LinkedIn:
”I’m very happy to share that our work on platelet-derived integrin- and tetraspanin-enriched tethers (PITTs) has now been published in Science Magazine.
In this study, we describe an unexpected platelet effector mechanism in which otherwise non-activated platelets redistribute their major integrin αIIbβ3 into long membrane tethers that remain anchored to leukocytes and the endothelium.
These structures amplify inflammation while leaving platelets functionally impaired — offering a new perspective on how thrombo-inflammation and bleeding can coexist in severe infection and critical illness.
This project represents a true team effort, combining advanced imaging, mouse models, and clinical data across multiple disciplines and countries.
I am deeply grateful to all my co-authors and collaborators for their outstanding work, creativity, and persistence over the years — especially to Dr. Charly Kusch and Bernhard Nieswandt!
Many thanks as well to our funding bodies, including the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) – German Research Foundation (SFB 1525) and the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant PITT-Inflame, for making this research possible.
Read the paper here.”
Article: Platelet-derived integrin- and tetraspanin-enriched tethers exacerbate severe inflammation
Authors: Charly Kusch, David Stegner, Lukas J. Weiss, Paquita Nurden, Philipp Burkard, Denise Johnson, Wolfgang Bergmeier, Ceylan Onursal, Stefano Navarro, Christian Hackenbroch, Dennis Pfeiffer, Sabrina Ivana Bonfiglio, Mara Meub, Carina Gross, Joachim Schenk, Valeria Fumagalli, Kristina Mott, Markus Bender, Matteo Iannacone, Oliver Andres, Wolfgang Kastenmüller, Katrin G. Heinze, Markus Sauer, Harald Schulze, Klaus Ley, Alan T. Nurden, Bernhard Nieswandt
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