Abstract:
The study suggests that patients with systemic
lupus erythematosus (SLE) present with distinct inflammatory
ultrastructural changes such as platelets blebbing,
generation of platelet-derived microparticles, spontaneous
formation of massive fibrin network and fusion of the
erythrocytes membranes. Lupoid platelets actively interact
with other inflammatory cells, particularly with white
blood cells (WBCs), and the massive fibrin network facilitates
such an interaction. It is possible that the concerted
actions of platelets, erythrocytes and WBC, caught in the
inflammatory fibrin network, predispose to pro-thrombotic
states in patients with SLE.
