Background

Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT), causing blood clotting and low platelet counts, has been identified as a reaction to the COVID-19 adenoviral (Ad) vectored vaccines.[1] To allow for sufficient diagnosis and treatment, it is important to elucidate the mechanism of VITT.[1]

[1] Roytenberg, R., García-Sastre, A. & Li, W. Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia: what do we know hitherto? Frontiers in Medicine 10, (2023).

Technology Overview

Researchers at McMaster University and University of Massachusetts Amherst have determined the polypeptide sequence of the variable region for unique anti-platelet factor 4 (PF4) antibodies, which is implicated in VITT.[2]

Further details:

[2] Nguyen, S. N. et al. Structural characterization of a pathogenic antibody underlying vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT). bioRxiv 2023.05.28.542636 (2023) doi:10.1101/2023.05.28.542636.