THROMBOSENSE

Venous Thromboembolic Events (VTE), are serious, life-threatening conditions. VTE are estimated to be the cause of 12% of death per annum in European countries, and 10k-20k deaths in France. Clinical and sometimes biological risk factors of thrombosis can be sought, but in about 50% of patients no cause will be found, making it difficult to assess the risk of recurrence.
Three major conditions referred to as Virchow’s triad are well recognized to participate in the pathophysiology of VTE: (i) hypercoagulability, (ii) perturbation of blood flow, and (iii) endothelial dysfunction. To compensate the misunderstanding of the causes of thrombosis, different approaches have been developed to better assess hypercoagulability, the most important cause of recurrence. Thrombin generation tests (TGT) have been proposed to characterize the kinetics and amplitude of thrombin formation but there is currently no strong evidence that it can help in the diagnosis of patients with unexplained VTE. It is thus urgent to implement new strategies to better prevent and treat VTE.
In this context, the pluridisciplinary consortium of Thrombosense will develop a new test that will enable probing hypercoagulability, in real time, using an endothelialized mimetic blood vessel, in flow conditions, thus satisfying the 3 parameters of the Virchow’s triad. The scientific objectives of the project are: (i) To develop 3-D endothelialized mimetic vessels, (ii) To develop a vein-on-a-chip platform for thrombosis. For this, optomechanical sensors will be co-integrated in the mimetic vessels and used as thromboelastography sensors, and (iii) To validate the platform with whole blood from normal controls and patients with prothrombotic conditions.
The improved knowledge on thrombosis in Thrombosense will be used to propose a breakthrough, in-vitro diagnosis tool. Such a test would improve the assessment of hypercoagulability and, hence, prediction of recurrence after anticoagulant treatment is stopped.