April 24, 2019
The pharmaceutical company Exagen, Inc. announced study results showing that a component of their AVISE SLE Monitor test, the biomarker PC4d, can assess risk for thrombosis – a blood clot in the blood vessels.
Study author Dr. Michelle Petri, Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Director of the Hopkins Lupus Cohort commented, “We know that SLE patients with antiphospholipid antibodies–particularly the lupus anticoagulant–are at increased risk of thrombosis, but our ability to predict who is at highest risk is woefully inadequate. The Hopkins Thrombosis Risk Score, developed in collaboration with Exagen, has included the multifactorial nature of the risk, particularly the involvement of 2 other pathways: low complement; and complement split products bound to platelets (an assay initially developed by Drs. Joe Ahearn and Sue Manzi). We recognize that this risk score requires prospective and external validation.”
Published in Lupus Science & Medicine, results showed that an abnormal level of the biomarker PC4d was associated with thrombosis.
