Cholesterol and platelets team up in atherosclerosis

Cholesterol increases blood platelets’s clotting tendency, so proves PhD-student Marjolijn van Lier. People with high cholesterol plasma levels therefore suffer from increased blood clotting and from high platelet binding to blood vessel walls. These trombotic and atherosclerotic effects highly increase cardiovascular risk.

Under normal circumstances clotting blood platelets prevent excessive bleeding by closing damaged blood vessels. However, when unnecessary clotting occurs, trombosis might result with ischemic damage coming next. Van Lier investigated the links between activation of blood platelets and attachment to vessel walls.

Thesis: ‘Cholesterol-rich domains, key factors for platelet adhesion and aggregation’
PhD-advsior: prof. dr. J.W.N. Akkerman
Co-advisor: dr. H.F.G. Heijnen