Thromb Haemost 1989; 61(03): 485-489
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1646619
Original Article
Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart

Platelet and Shear Rate Promote Tumor Cell Adhesion to Human Endothelial Extracellular Matrix - Absence of a Role for Platelet Cyclooxygenase

Eva Bastida
The Servicio Hemoterapia y Hemostasia, Hospital Clinic i Provincial, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain
,
Lourdes Almirall
The Servicio Hemoterapia y Hemostasia, Hospital Clinic i Provincial, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain
,
Antonio Ordinas
The Servicio Hemoterapia y Hemostasia, Hospital Clinic i Provincial, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Received 22 July 1988

Accepted after revision 02 February 1989

Publication Date:
24 July 2018 (online)

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Summary

Blood platelets are thought to be involved in certain aspects of malignant dissemination. To study the role of platelets in tumor cell adherence to vascular endothelium we performed studies under static and flow conditions, measuring tumor cell adhesion in the absence or presence of platelets. We used highly metastatic human adenocarcinoma cells of the lung, cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (ECs) and extracellular matrices (ECM) prepared from confluent EC monolayers. Our results indicated that under static conditions platelets do not significantly increase tumor cell adhesion to either intact ECs or to exposed ECM. Conversely, the studies performed under flow conditions using the flat chamber perfusion system indicated that the presence of 2 × 105 pl/μl in the perfusate significantly increased the number of tumor cells adhered to ECM, and that this effect was shear rate dependent. The maximal values of tumor cell adhesion were obtained, in presence of platelets, at a shear rate of 1,300 sec-1. Furthermore, our results with ASA-treated platelets suggest that the role of platelets in enhancing tumor cell adhesion to ECM is independent of the activation of the platelet cyclooxygenase pathway.