Peptide signature for prediction of future venous thromboembolism (PEPSI-VTE)

VTE can be efficiently prevented and treated with anticoagulants, but at the cost of high bleeding risk, implying that anticoagulant treatment should only be provided to individuals at high VTE risk.  Current risk assessment models fail to predict life-threatening VTE at an individual level, even in high-risk subjects. Thus, there is an unmet need for discovery of novel predictive biomarkers to improve targeted prevention, and unravel mechanisms involved in thrombus formation in order to provide tailored treatment. By untargeted mass spectrometry, we have identified a peptide missed cleavage, which shows a unique potential to distinguish individuals at high and low risk of future VTE. In this project, we will develop a MS-based assay for quantification of the missed peptide cleavage and perform external validation to assess the predictive performance of this peptide signature. Further, functional characterization of the peptide signature may reveal essential pathways involved in the pathogenesis of venous thrombosis and become targets for tailored treatment in the future.

Principal Investigator: John-Bjarne Hansen

External collaborators: Kristian Hveem (HUNT Center for Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology, NTNU); Bart van Vlijmen, Jan Wouter Drijfhout and Renee Ruhaak (Leiden University Medical Center); Tom Eirik Mollnes (Norwgian Complement Research Group, University of Oslo); Peter Garred (Clinical Immunology, University of Copenhagen)