Dual role: Researchers show that platelets can worsen disease

Marion Mußbacher and Martina Derler, postdoctoral researcher and first author of the publication, have shown that platelets can also worsen diseases. Photo: Uni Graz/Angele.

Platelets are best known as rapid responders in the event of injury. They stop bleeding and are indispensable for wound healing. “However, thrombocytes can also aggravate diseases, especially when inflammatory processes are involved,” explains Marion Mußbacher, a pharmacist at the University of Graz. She investigated the “dual role” of platelets in relation to fatty liver disease, a condition closely linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Mußbacher and her team were able to show that platelets are specifically attracted to the liver in the course of metabolism-related changes and are locally activated there. “Once there, they drive disease progression. They promote inflammatory processes and disrupt functions in liver cells that are important for lipid metabolism. As a result, the organ’s delicate balance is thrown even further off course and fat accumulation increases,” the scientist explains. The researchers examined this effect in a model that allows the liver to be studied in isolation while excluding other metabolic factors. “This allowed us to see more clearly what is happening directly at the site, without accompanying effects such as general inflammation, obesity or diabetes distorting the picture,” says Mußbacher, describing a special feature of the study.

The new findings on the two sides of platelets are highly significant because a clearer understanding of disease progression is an important step toward more precise therapies. “In the long term, our research may help to specifically curb the harmful role of platelets in certain diseases without impairing their vital function in blood clotting,” Mußbacher is convinced.

Publication details:
Derler, Dube T, Ableitner E, Schrottmaier WC, Salzmann M, Kolb D, De Campos AM, Engelke H, Annerer E, Kunowska N, Schmid JA, Beck S, Nieswandt B, Assinger A, Stelzl U, Mussbacher M*. Platelets accelerate endoplasmic reticulum stress and promote hepatic steatosis. JHEP Rep. 2026 Feb 3;8(4):101767. doi: 10.1016/j.jhepr.2026.101767.

Gerhild Leljak

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