Coagulation Activation By Heme: Evidence from Global Hemostasis Assays

Introduction: It has been known for more than 50 years that patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) present higher plasma concentrations of heme. More recently, it was shown that heme is capable to activate innate immune response, and to trigger a toll-like receptor-dependent response that involves the expression of several pro-inflammatory genes. Accordingly, the role of heme as critical inflammatory mediator in SCD has been confirmed in different experimental models, suggesting that heme can be a trigger for microvascular occlusion and acute chest syndrome (ACS). The association between innate immune response and coagulation activation dates back to 450 million years in evolution, so that activation of the former is frequently accompanied by activation of the latter. Micro and macrovascular thrombosis are a hallmark of SCD, and the role of heme in the pathogenesis of these events has been recently suggested by demonstrations of heme-induced expression of tissue factor (TF) by endothelial cells and monocytes. However, the functional relevance of heme-induced TF expression on clinically-relevant coagulation markers has not been demonstrated.

Methods: herein we evaluated heme-induced TF expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and used two different global assays of hemostasis, namely thromboelastometry (TEM) and Thrombin Generation Test (TGT) to evaluate the effect of heme on coagulation activation. Blood from healthy volunteers was drawn from an antecubital vein with minimal stasis in 0.106 sodium citrate tubes (1:10) or heparin. TEM was performed in whole-blood samples (n=10) incubated with 30 µM heme (Sigma-Aldrich) for four hours at 37^oC, in a ROTEM equipment (Pentapharm). Coagulation was activated with the addition of CaCl₂. Samples from same individuals incubated with vehicle were assayed concomitantly as controls (n=10). TGT was performed in double centrifuged plasma samples, separated from whole blood stimulated with heme or vehicle under the same conditions (n=16). TGT was performed using a Fluoroskan Ascent Flourimeter (Thermolab). Coagulation was activated with TF (5pM) and phospholipids (PPP reagent, Thrombinoscope). Expression of TF was evaluated by qRT-PCR. Heparin-anticoagulated blood was incubated with 30 µM heme (n=6) or vehicle (n=6) for 24 hours. PBMC and neutrophils were then separated by density gradient centrifugation (Ficoll). Non-parametric statistics were used in all analysis.

Results: incubation of whole blood with heme 30 µM resulted in a potent induction of TF expression in PBMC compared to vehicle (AU)(0.03±0.06 vs 1.18±0.60; P=0.03). No TF expression could be detected in neutrophils. Heme-induced coagulation activation could be demonstrated by TEM. Heme significantly decreased the coagulation time (sec) (562.1±88.2 to 387±84.3; P=0.002) and the MaxV-t (time to maximum velocity) (651.4±119.2 to 451.1±87.4; P=0.002), which are two indicators of shift towards a hypercoagulable profile. A trend towards a lower clot formation time was also observed (P=0.07). No difference could be observed in the area under the TEM curve. A hypercoagulable profile was also observed in TGT in samples incubated with heme. Statistically significant changes compatible with a shift towards coagulation activation were observed in parameters such as peak thrombin (increased), time to peak thrombin (decreased), velocity index (increased), lagtime (decreased) and StarTail (decreased) (all P<0.05). No statistically significant change could be observed in the endogenous thrombin potential parameter (p=0.10).

Discussion and conclusions: TEM and TGT are global hemostasis assays, widely used for evaluation of hypo- and hypercoagulable states. Both methods have been used in patients with SCD, who present hypercoagulable profiles similar to those obtained in our study, and characterized by faster onset and offset of coagulation activation. We demonstrate for the first time that heme, in concentrations similar to those observed in patients with SCD and other hemolytic disorders, is capable to not only stimulate the expression of TF by PBMC, but also to shift the coagulation balance towards a hypercoagulable state, similar to that observed in patients with SCD. These results provide additional support to the hypothesis that heme is a key mediator micro- and macrovascular thrombosis in SCD and possibly, in other hemolytic disorders.