Alterations in vascular endothelial cell-related plasma proteins in thalassaemic patients and their correlation with clinical symptoms

An increased level of plasma thrombomodulin (TM) in α- and β-thalassaemia was demonstrated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Nonsplenectomized patients with β-thalassaemia/haemoglobin E (BE) had higher levels of TM than splenectomized cases (BE-S). Patients with leg ulcers (BE-LU) were found to have the highest increase in TM level. Appearance of larger platelets in all types of thalassaemic blood was observed indicating an increase in the number of younger platelets. These data indicate that injury of vascular endothelial cells is present in thalassaemic patients.