Standardization of neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) measurements in patient samples. (ISTH SSC)

White blood cells are essential for fighting infection using specific killing mechanisms. However, when these processes get activated in the absence of infection, this can cause disease. One of the ways that white blood cells try to fight infection is by sending out neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), ejecting their DNA lined with proteins that can kill bacteria. These same proteins also damage healthy blood vessels and cause them to become activated, which binds platelets and can lead to blood clots. Activated platelets are also one way that white blood cells can be stimulated to make NETs, and therefore this is a vicious cycle. However, in terms of measuring these NETs in blood samples, the field suffers from a lack of standardization of methodology, with some methods using unspecific readouts interpreted as NETs (for example, DNA which could come from other cell death). The aim of this project is begin a larger standardization project measurements of NETs in the field of thrombosis and haemostasis, which we hope will also be adopted by other fields. This also is a first step toward implementation of NETs measurements for diagnostic purposes, which is currently not possible.