Private MD News - Coagulation and blood clotting disorders

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Some people are more likely to develop blood clots than others. This can be tied to lifestyle choices like diet and exercise, but there are also genetic markers that can indicate whether a person is likely to form clots. Blood tests can show if the tendencies to clot more or hemorrhage are present, as some common disorders in platelet bonding can cause one symptom or the other, though both are tied to the same illness.

Researchers at the Life Sciences Institute recently released the results of a study that looked at genetic ties between family groups, specifically targeting young siblings in order to see the correlation in a specific clotting-related syndrome. Von Willebrand disease is associated with problems in blood cell bonding mechanisms, making people with the condition likely to form clots or bleed profusely, depending on how the condition is expressed. Blood testing was used on this group of people, targeting subjects in their 20s to avoid side effects from factors like prolonged smoking, increased age and poor lifestyle.

They found that those carrying two specific genetic markers on various parts of the chromosome chain would express one kind of Von Willebrand or the other, providing hope that scientists may be able to engineer better treatments in the future now that they know which genetic sequences to target.

Changing the future of clots... Full Story