Nirupama Ramadas, PhD, Fatima Trebak, PhD, Rafal Pawlinski, PhD, and Erin Sparkenbaugh, PhD, with the UNC Division of Hematology, are co-authors of “Biased agonism of protease-activated receptor-1 regulates thrombo-inflammation in murine sickle cell disease.” Their manuscript was accepted in Blood Advances, a journal of the American Society of Hematology.

The study shows APC inhibition exacerbates thrombin generation, inflammation and end-organ damage in a mouse model of sickle cell disease (SCD), and APC-PAR1 biased agonism reduces inflammation, suggesting that targeting this pathway may mitigate vascular complications of SCD.